Sue Ronan highlights the underage feats underpinning Ireland's golden crop

Vera Pauw's Republic of Ireland squad is a confluence of generations, with an older guard led by defenders such as Louise Quinn, Niamh Fahey and Diane Caldwell and the youngsters represented by teenager Abbie Larkin.

However, the bulk of the 23 selected for the World Cup is made up of a core of players in their mid-to-late 20s, born between early 1994 and mid-1997.

And a good chunk of those, including star names Katie McCabe and Denise O'Sullivan first made their senior international debuts during Sue Ronan's time as Ireland manager between 2010 and 2016.

Ronan joined this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast and shared an insight into the early promise shown by that generation at underage level before they truly established themselves as senior stalwarts.

"We sort of had a bit of a golden generation from that squad that won a medal in the Under-17s European Championships under Noel King in 2010," she said.

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"They were an exceptional squad. You had Denise in that, you had Ciara Grant who has come back (into the Ireland squad for the World Cup). I also gave Ciara her debut.

"You had Rianna Jarrett who unfortunately has gone off the (international scene) through all the unfortuante injuries she's had. Clare Shine would have been part of that group, Megan Campbell... there was a really good nucleus of players who you thought were a golden generation."

In that European Championships, the Irish U17s topped a qualifying group which featured traditional powerhouses Sweden before edging Germany 1-0 in