Ireland will play their first ever FIFA Women's World Cup game against Brazil on Monday September 6th, before facing Canada on the Thursday, with both games taking place at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Trinidad. The ‘Girls in Green' complete their Group 4 fixtures against Ghana at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago on September 13th, with the top two teams of each group progressing to the quarter finals.
Ireland's preparations for the tournament included a tri-nations cup victory over England and Denmark last weekend in Manchester, while the delegation moved onto Fort Lauderdale in Florida on Thursday August 26th, for a pre-tournament training camp which includes two friendly games against tournament finalists.
The first was a 3-0 defeat to hosts Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday, with New Zealand next up on August 31st.
Speaking at the squad announcement, Republic of Ireland manager, Noel King said, "On the back of last weekend's tri-nations victory, we travel to Fort Lauderdale for a week long training camp and I think the games against tournament hosts, Trinidad and Tobago and New Zealand will give us a real taste of what to expect when the tournament kicks-off in September.
"We will be playing in conditions similar to that of Trinidad and Tobago, while gaining experience against teams from two different continents. Preparation for the World Cup has been ideal but we are obviously very disappointed with the injury sustained to midfielder, Niamh McLaughlin which rules her out of contention," he said.
"We are all looking forward to our first game of the World Cup against Brazil. The South Americans have produced the world's best player in Martha and have the most enviable reputation in world football. They are currently ranked 2nd in the FIFA World Rankings in women's football and we are all really looking forward to the game which may be the toughest match of our lives.
"The experience that we will gain from playing teams with different styles such as Brazil, Canada and Ghana will be invaluable and will be hugely important to the development of our players," he said.
King added, "While Ireland are not considered as a massive power in world football, I believe that we go into this competition as the second best team in Europe and I think that we will get the respect from all of the teams that we play. Nobody will be taking us lightly with our record in qualifying over the past year."
Republic of Ireland U-17 squad:
Grace Moloney - Reading
Ciara O'Brien - Tramore
Megan Campbell - St. Francis
Jessica Gleeson - Tramore
Jennifer Byrne - Bealnamulla
Ciara Grant - Kilmacrennan Celtic
Aileen Gilroy - Killala
Dora Gorman - Salthill Devon
Zoe Boyd - Montclair Thunderbolts (USA)
Denise O'Sullivan - Wilton United
Siobhan Killeen - Raheny United
Stacie Donnelly - Reading
Rianna Jarrett - Northend United
Tanya Kennedy - Finn Valley
Kerry Glynn - Montclair Thunderbolts (USA)
Amanda Budden - Wilton United
Claire Shine - Douglas Hall
Harriet Scott - Reading
Rebecca Kearney - Lakewood Athletic
Jillian Maloney - Roswell Santos (USA)
Emma Hansberry - Strand Celtic
Source - fai.ie
