Republic of Ireland midfielders Denise O’Sullivan and Ruesha Littlejohn are out of tonight’s Euro 2025 qualifier against Sweden at the Aviva Stadium.
Head coach Eileen Gleeson has been dealt a major blow ahead of the clash with the world No 6-ranked side after the pair lost their respective fitness battles.
O’Sullivan hurt her knee after an awkward tangle in action for North Carolina Courage against Kansas City in the NWSL three weeks ago.
She has been on a modified training programme this week and trained away from the rest of the group on Thursday, doing some light running and stretching.
Littlejohn has had a long-term Achilles issue that has required her to manage her load in training. She also trained separately from the squad on Thursday, the 33-year-old doing some shooting and jogging as the squad engaged in more intense drills.
In her pre-match press conference, Gleeson had said there would be “late calls”, but refused to rule anyone out.
“We always knew (O’Sullivan) was going to be on a modified training programme,” said Gleeson.
“We’re aware, we knew we would be (waiting), we knew there was an injury before she came in.
“We’re in the same position we were before we came into the camp with Denise.
“She has been in with us from the start but she’s been on a modified programme so she’s a little bit separate from the group at times, so we’re still working towards having them on the field.”
However, neither O’Sullivan or Littlejohn will be involved at Lansdowne Road tonight, with both players omitted from UEFA’s matchday squad list. Cork City captain Eva Mangan is also not included.
In better news, Katie McCabe is good to go, having returned from Australia unscathed.
McCabe played an end-of-season friendly for Arsenal against the A-League All Stars in Melbourne, and only arrived in Ireland camp on Tuesday.
She has been adhering to special sleeping strategies to help her overcome jet lag, and trained fully on Wednesday and Thursday.
Watch Republic of Ireland v Sweden in Euro 2025 qualifying from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on an extended Game On with 2fm
