Vera Pauw: 'We stand on the shoulders of previous generations'

As celebrations exploded all around her, Vera Pauw made a point of paying tribute to the generations of Republic of Ireland players who laid the foundations for their historic World Cup qualification.

"I truly mean this from deep down in my heart that we stand on the shoulders of the previous generations," she said at Hampden Park in the wake of Ireland's 1-0 play-off victory over Scotland.

"We will get all the praise but without all the hard work and the fantastic way that everybody has step by step built this game, we can now flourish, and we do it for the next generation.

"I want to pay tribute to all the coaches before me, all the players before us because without them we would not have been here. I truly mean that. I feel it very deep down inside. I really wanted to add that because to me that's very important."

Ireland are a remarkably dogged team but even by their standards the final 15 minutes was something else.

After Amber Barrett had put the Girls in Green ahead, they literally put their bodies on the line to close out a famous win.

"Scotland said, and quite right, that they were the better team," Pauw added. "They have the better players, but we were the better team."

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Reflecting further on the turning point for this side, she said: "When we lost in Ukraine [at the tail end of the failed Euros campaign two years ago].

"There we said, 'we are going to the World Cup'. That is why I stayed on and extended my contract. We were so determined.

"This group must go end up