Lia O'Leary thinks just how she plays football - by always looking ahead. So it's no surprise that she is already for the final Group B game at the 2024 UEFA Women's Under-19 European Championships.

The Shamrock Rovers attacker scored Ireland's first goal of the tournament in the 2-1 defeat to Germany and is now switching her focus to Sunday's crunch clash with Netherlands, where she hopes to score again.

The Dubliner became just the fifth Irish player to score at the WU19 EUROs - following on from Clare Shine, Keeva Keenan, Savannah McCarthy and Megan Connolly - and her 32nd-minute strike was one to savour.

O'Leary recalls the goal: "We regained really good possession in the backline and broke down the right-hand side, and then Meabh Russell crossed it into the box. Originally i thought it was too high but I continued on to the back post and it fell to my foot and I was just so happy when it went in.

"I'm delighted to have scored against Germany but I definitely think that we'll have more opportunities against the Netherlands so I'm hoping to get my name on the scoresheet again in the final group game."

Having drawn with Spain in their first game, Ireland know that a victory over Netherlands can secure a semi-final spot so they are already planning for that joust in the Lithuanian city of Marijampolėje.

O'Leary said: "I think we've shown as a squad that we can really play against the best teams in Europe and not only just play but really put up a good game against them. I think we got unlucky with the Germany result but we're going to definitely being in the positives from the game against Germany and the game against Spain into our final group game against the Netherlands on Sunday.

"There are so many positives to take out of the game and we've proven that we're a really hard side to play against and a really difficult side to break down. So I really think with all the positives from both games so far we can definitely bring them into the final group game and try to get a good result out of the game.

"As the games have gone on we've grown as a squad - both defensively and attacking wise, so I definitely think going into the Netherlands game I believe we can, as a squad, score more goals and gain more attacking opportunities."

The game against Netherlands will be broadcast live on the RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player.


Ireland WU19 Squad
Goalkeepers: Katie Keane (Athlone Town), Jayne Merren (Wexford)
Defenders: Meabh Russell (Wexford), Aoife Turner (MVLA Soccer), Kate Thompson, Eve Dossen (Galway United), Aoife Kelly (Shamrock Rovers), Mary Phillips (Athlone Town)
Midfielders: Hannah Healy (Shelbourne), Sophie Morrin (University of Texas), Jess Fitzgerald, Freya Healy (Peamount United), Jodie Loughrey, Keri Loughrey (Sligo Rovers)
Forwards: Joy Ralph, Lia O'Leary (Shamrock Rovers), Ceola Bergin (Wexford), Ellen Dolan (Peamount United), Rola Olusola (Galway United), Hazel Donegan (Athlone Town)


Fixtures / Results
Monday, July 15th | Spain 0-0 Ireland
Thursday, July 18th | Ireland 1-2 Germany
Sunday, July 21st | Ireland v Netherlands, Futbolo Stadionas Marijampolėje, KO 12:00