There’s a game tonight that deserves every bit of your attention, your voice, and your pride. In Grenoble, at the Stade des Alpes, Carla Ward’s Ireland Women’s National Team takes on France in a crunch World Cup qualifier—and the road to Brazil 2027 runs directly through this match.
Let me be clear about what’s at stake. Ireland sits second in Group A2, just one point behind France. A win tonight, and the Girls in Green top the group—and go directly to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This isn’t a consolation fixture. This is the real thing.
We owe these women the same noise, the same national pride, the same goosebumps we give every Irish team that pulls on the green jersey and takes on the world.
If you can’t see her, you can’t be her.
There’s a generation of girls in Galway and right across Ireland who are watching tonight. Girls who have footballs in the back garden, who wear number 10 on their jerseys because Katie McCabe wears it. Girls who play midfield because Denise O’Sullivan makes it look like poetry. Girls who are told—sometimes quietly, sometimes not so quietly—that sport is for someone else.
It isn’t. It never was.
When McCabe was named Ireland captain in 2017, she was the youngest captain in the history of the women’s team. She had to fight for that honour — just as this entire squad has had to fight for visibility, for investment, and for the right to be taken seriously. In April 2017, the squad demanded better treatment from the FAI—they wanted a higher match fee and proper recognition for the time they gave to the national team. They threatened to boycott a home match unless things changed. They stood up. And because they stood up, the girls watching tonight have better role models than any generation before them.
Every young girl who sees these women play—who sees them chase a ball in Paris, who sees them celebrate a goal in green—she sees a version of herself that is possible. That is powerful. That is everything.
This Is What Representation Looks Like
As a senator, I’ve spoken many times about the importance of visibility—in politics, in business, in public life. Sport is no different. When girls see women compete at the highest level, with skill and courage and ambition, it rewires what they believe is possible for themselves.
We have spent years building the structures — the investment, the leagues, the pathways — that have brought us to this moment. Tonight is the proof. The Girls in Green head into this final group game with qualification within their own hands—and they are the ones who earned that position.
Ireland’s women earned their place at the 2023 World Cup. They earned promotion to League A. And tonight, they have a chance to earn automatic qualification for Brazil 2027. Not a play-off. Not a second chance. Straight through.
That’s not luck. That’s what happens when talent meets belief.
Get Behind Them Tonight
The game kicks off at 8pm Irish time and is on RTÉ. Whether you’re watching at home, in a pub, or keeping an eye on your phone, make some noise. Put it on the family group chat. Tell your daughter, your niece, and your neighbour’s kids.
Tell them that tonight, the Irish women’s team are going to France to try to win a World Cup place.
Tell them to watch.
Tell them that this could be them someday.
Come on Ireland. 💚
Senator Anne Rabbitte is a Fianna Fáil Senator representing Connacht–Ulster. She is a long-standing advocate for women’s equality in sport, rural communities, and public life.
