‘We’ve built something amazing’ – Bristol City’s Connolly reflects on historic year for Ireland | OneFootball

Ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming fixtures in the UEFA Women’s Nations League, Bristol City captain Megan Connolly has been reflecting on what has been a historic year for The Girls in Green, as well as how she is adapting to a new home in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Connolly spoke to the media ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming fixtures against Hungary and Northern Ireland in the UEFA Women’s Nations League.

In what has been a historic year for the Republic of Ireland after qualifying for their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup, Connolly reflected on the nation’s achievements so far and the further heights that could be reached.

“It’s been crazy,” Connolly said when speaking in a FAI media event. “The World Cup feels like years ago now with the amount of games we’ve played with our clubs and in the Nations League.

“Over the last few years, we’ve built something amazing, we’ve built a great foundation. Getting to the World Cup was amazing, we built that for years. I think now we’re just trying to keep building, keep adding to that. We’ve always progressed, added foundations and layers. This campaign, we’ve tried to add on more in terms of in-possession play because we’ve shown over the years how great we are defensively and how we can get people on the counter-attack and on set-plays.

“Every campaign, we’re trying to progress based on what we’ve done previously. The year has been good. Four wins from four in the Nations League and hopefully, we’ll end it on two more wins and have a successful campaign and move on to next year when we can try to qualify for the EUROs.”

The Republic of Ireland received a warm welcome home at the Aviva Stadium back in September with 36,000 fans piling in through the turnstiles in what was a record-breaking attendance for The Girls in Green. Tonight’s fixture against Hungary sees the team return to Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium and Connolly is hoping that the momentum can continue with regards to growing the fanbase.

She said “I think it’s been amazing. Having that kind of homecoming at the Aviva on a Saturday at 1 o’clock, to have that turnout of around 36,000 was amazing. We’re still trying to translate that to Tallaght. We want to fully sell-out Tallaght before we go back to the Aviva. We want to play some of the big games at the Aviva next year but for us, we want to see Tallaght sold out. Obviously, with the new stand, that brings it to about 10,000 in total.

“The support has been amazing but I don’t think we want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Tallaght has been our home, it’s been great to us and we’d love to see Tallaght sold out. The fans have been amazing, getting behind us and always supporting us, even when we were having bad times.”

In what has been a momentous year for the Republic of Ireland, the same can be said for Connolly. After signing for newly-promoted Barclays Women’s Super League club Bristol City over the summer, the player was soon appointed as captain. Connolly admits that she is loving life with The Robins.

“I’m loving it,” she said. “I’m loving the place, the team is great, the management are great, the club is great, so for me personally, I’m enjoying it.

“I knew what to expect, it was always going to be tough; the WSL is always getting better. As a team coming into the WSL this year, it’s a massive challenge but it’s a long season and I believe that we’ll stay up. I believe we’ll get more wins, get more results, it’s a great group.

“I’m looking forward to continuing the journey. I enjoy leading the team. Having that responsibility and that honour has been great. I’ve just tried to do my best there, I’m enjoying it.”

Despite The Robins currently being bottom of the Barclays Women’s Super League table, Connolly feels positive about the team’s efforts so far this season.

She said “Over the last couple of weeks, I think we’ve got a clear identity of who we are in and out of possession, our formation, our way of playing. We’re quite adaptable, so if there are things in the game we have to change to get a result like we did against Everton recently, we can do it.

“I think we’re building something quite good and I’m quite confident going into games. I’m looking around at a great squad that are disciplined and hopefully, we’ll pick up more results.”

With Peamount United’s Ellen Dolan (17) and Freya Healy (16) having received their first senior call-ups to the Republic of Ireland squad, Connolly explained how her leadership role translates across to the national team.

She said “Taking that (captaincy) role on, you kind of take that responsibility of…when you’re here, you are representing yourself and how you are at your club. When I’m in here, obviously, you have the younger players coming in. Yes, you want to be performing yourself but it’s a team game. You want to support your teammates, you want to help them out.

“I’ve always prided myself on being a team player, even when I wasn’t a captain or anything like that. You want to put in performances but you want to look after your teammates, you want to get around them and help them.

“Coming in here, I take a bit of pride in the fact that I am captain at Bristol. I’ve come in here to represent myself quite well and I just keep trying to be a good teammate.”

Eileen Gleeson was appointed into the role of interim manager ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s UEFA Women’s Nations League campaign. The team have earned promotion into League A of the competition following four victorious fixtures. Connolly went on to comment on how she has found the transitional period under new management.

“I think they’ve been great,” she said. “We’re obviously in that transition phase at the minute. It’s always different, every manager has a different style, every coach and staff has different ways of interacting with players but I think it’s been grand.

“Navigating this transition period and getting results is the main thing and I think that’s what we’ve been focused on, just getting the team ready for the games, getting results and getting performances. Going forward, there’ll probably be more change but in this interim period, I think they’ve been great. We’ve got the results we’ve wanted and hopefully, we’ll finish with two more results.”

The Republic of Ireland play host to Hungary in Dublin this evening before travelling to Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening.