The Republic of Ireland are planning a missile attack against Russia on May 7th at Tallaght Stadium. The girls in green can launch themselves into second place in group one of the UEFA World Cup qualifiers with a win.
Sue Ronan's team were agonisingly beaten 3-2 by table toppers Germany earlier this month with both goals coming from the amazingly long and pacy throw-ins of Megan Campbell. Striker Stephanie Roche revealed why the fullback's lethal weapon may be even more dangerous when the Russians come to town.
"I think she said over in Florida now she's throwing medicine balls and then replacing it with a football so obviously that's going to make the football go further," Roche told 98FM Sport.
"We're almost better off getting a throw-in than a corner because even though she has a long throw, there's pace on the ball so any little touch. You could even see with Louise's goal, any little touch and it was going in the back of the net so it is great to have."
Campbell has made 23 appearances for her country but her long throws haven't always been used to punish teams.
"She's always had a long throw, we just never really used it for some reason. I know she used it with the under-19s a good bit but she's only really starting to use it with the seniors now and obviously it's going to be a good weapon for us to use now hopefully over the next few games."
Roche admits that the nature of the defeat to Germany, having come so close to nicking a point, was hard to take but feels the team can use the result as a springboard in their bid to finish second which would earn them a place in the playoffs.
"They've dominated European and world football for the last twenty or thirty years. Going into it, as Sue Ronan said at the time, it would be a bonus to get anything out of the game. They hadn't conceded in five games and scored forty, so to score two against the world's best players was great so there's a lot of positives to take from the game. I think going into the Russia game we'll be confident enough now we can get the three points."
Roche was asked if Ireland's performance against the Germans will see Russia arrive in Dublin a little bit more fearful than they may have before.
"Well I think it got everybody in Europe looking to be honest with you to see us getting any sort of goals or anything against Germany. Definitely, they'll be out to beat us now after losing against Germany so obviously we have to try and not let them win."
Roche was at the launch of the 2014 eFlow FAI Summer Soccer Schools programme. This year's camps are priced at €65 (€55 for additional siblings). The first 5000 online bookings will be eligible for a complimentary adult and child ticket to a senior international fixture at the Aviva Stadium. Further info can be found at:
www.facebook.com/faisummersoccerschools
or by calling 1890 653 653.
