WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Republic of Ireland v Poland, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 3pm
TV
Live coverage on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player from 2.30pm.
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live updates on RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport.
WEATHER
A mix of sunny spells and scattered showers, perhaps a few of them heavy over the northern half of the country, but the showers will ease and die out through the afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of 10-14C in light to moderate west to northwest breezes.
The Girls in Green passed the first part of their Polish assignment in Gdansk, now Carla Ward must steer her team to victory at Aviva Stadium to finish the job off.
The visitors emerged victorious in a topsy-turvy five-goal affair on Tuesday, a result that has lifted them above their opponents into third in their FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying group as Ireland look to secure a more amenable play-off pathway.
While there was no shame in defeats to Netherlands and France previously in the group, Ward had always earmarked the Polish ties as the real litmus test to whether the team are on the right path.
The performance in Gdansk had some nervy moments, but for the most part the manager will have been pleased with what she saw against a side three places higher in the world rankings.
Poland served warning of their potential with a credible draw with the Netherlands, so they arrive in Dublin acutely aware that victory on Irish soil would lift them back above their hosts.
The value in finishing third cannot be underestimated. It would result in a kinder play-off seeding for the semi-final and final, meaning the second leg would be played on Irish soil.
Third place would pit them against a League C team in the semis, rather than a League B runner-up or third-placed side.
That is for another day and the here and now is completing the double over the Poles.
Midfielder Megan Connolly said earlier this week she expects the visitors to come at them “all guns blazing”, suggesting that their noted transition from defence to attack, blunted by the Girls in Green on Tuesday, is likely to be improved second time around.
Central to Poland leaving Dublin with a positive result is likely to be striker Ewa Pajor.
The Barcelona forward was denied a first-half goal courtesy of a sensational block from Anna Patten, but showed all her class with her 78th-minute goal, killing a dropping ball with a deft first touch before lofting past Courtney Brosnan to reduce the deficit.
How Ireland deal with her, and indeed the supply, will go a long way to determining the result.
Aviva factor
Saturday marks just the sixth outing for the women’s team at Aviva Stadium. A comfortable victory over Northern Ireland and most recently, a 4-2 win over Belgium, were sandwiched by defeats to England, Sweden, and most disappointingly, Wales in a European play-off.
The five games have attracted a combined crowd of 128,055, with a crowd somewhere in the region of 20,000 expected for the visit of Poland.
Speaking to the media this week, Megan Connolly said the bedding-in period to the Dublin 4 venue is now over.
“At the start it was a big difference, obviously, going from Tallaght, that was our home for so long. I think the initial transition phase, we saw difficulties,” she said. “Obviously, it’s different, the crowd size, the pitch size kind of feels bigger. But now we’ve played there enough times that that feels like our home now. Everybody’s really comfortable playing there.”
What they said
Carla Ward (Republic of Ireland manager): “We’re going to expect a reaction. We know Poland have got a lot of quality — we spoke about that before. They’ve shown that against really good sides, getting a point against the Netherlands. If anyone thinks it’s going to be a similar game, I think they’ll be mistaken. I think we have to treat this as a different type of game and we have to be prepared for that. We will be.
“This group, they’re hungry to be better all the time. The only things we properly discuss are how we improve and how we potentially tweak things. We’ll go into this game knowing how they might react, but also prepared that we’ve got enough quality, if we’re on it, to go and take three points.”
Nina Patalon (Poland manager): “We now knock much more about how Ireland plays and we’ll meet again. I hope the girls are upset, but I’m glad we’re playing the return leg on Saturday.
“The first half of this two-legged tie favoured the opponents,” she said. “I’m convinced the second match will be completely different.”
Ireland’s record at Aviva Stadium
2023 Nations League Republic of Ireland 3-0 Northern Ireland (35,994)
2024 European qualifier Republic of Ireland 0-2 England (32,742)
2024 European qualifier Republic of Ireland 0-3 Sweden (22,868)
2024 European play-off Republic of Ireland 1-2 Wales (25,832)
2025 Nations League play-off Republic of Ireland 4-2 Belgium (14,180)