'Weathering the weather' key to Irish hopes in Georgia - Lisa Fallon

On Sunday in Turkey, Ireland warmed up for their upcoming 2023 FIFA World Cup qualifier with a 1-0 friendly win over the Philippines.

"Warm" is an apt term given the conditions Vera Pauw's side are likely to face when they touch down in Tbilisi for next Monday's fixture.

The Irish side will be heavy favourites to pick up a crucial win after earning a record 11-0 win in the home fixture last November and it would be a much-needed result to lift them back up to second in their group before two vital September showdowns against Finland and Slovakia.

But the challenge in the away game, which will be live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, will be somewhat different according to coach and RTÉ Soccer analyst Lisa Fallon.

"To put some context around the result in Dublin, while it was the biggest win for an Irish women's team in history and [the 11-0] will help massively if goal difference becomes a deciding factor, we have to bear in mind that Georgia had a lot of Covid issues at the time and it wasn't their full-strength squad," she told this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

"They were missing a number of key players and also they had some players in the camp who had just recovered from it.

"And if you look at the results of teams who have travelled to Georgia, they weren't big scorelines. They're a team that doesn't travel particularly well but at home it's a difficuilt place to play."

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