Ballon d’Or women’s award nominee Katie McCabe will be unable to attend Monday’s ceremony in Paris because she is with the Republic of Ireland squad in Albania.Women’s Nations League: Albania v Republic of Ireland
Venue: Loro Borici Stadium, Shkoder Date: Tuesday, 31 October Kick-off: 17:00 GMT
Coverage: Score updates and report on the BBC Sport website
A second Republic of Ireland victory in four days over Albania on Tuesday could secure the Irish top spot in Group One of League B with two games to spare.
Northern Ireland also host Hungary on Tuesday and a draw in Belfast coupled with an Irish win in Shkoder will mean Eileen Gleeson’s side cannot be caught.
A superb Katie McCabe display - which included her hat-trick - led to the Republic beating Albania 5-1 on Friday.
McCabe is missing Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris as she is is Albania.
The Arsenal star is on the shortlist for the women’s award and the Republic are scheduled to train in Shkoder at the same time although McCabe indicated that she might attempt to have a quick look at the ceremony on her phone during Monday’s session.
Gleeson left out experienced trio on Friday
Interim manager Gleeson left out experienced trio Amber Barrett, Lucy Quinn and Heather Payne from her matchday 23 for Friday’s win and, while the Irish misfired somewhat in the first half, McCabe’s heroics meant they completely dominated the second half as she also set up Kyra Carusa’s two goals.
Gleeson said on Monday morning that no injuries accrued from Friday’s game, so it will be interesting to see whether Barrett, Quinn and Payne are involved on Tuesday in a contest which again has the world’s 24th and 72nd-ranked teams in opposition.
“The challenge is all the time evolving so it’s not necessarily that you’ve been in the squad so long so you’re entitled to be in here,” added Gleeson.
With the Republic squad’s hotel next door to a mosque, the players and management were awoken by the call to prayer on Monday morning which a smiling Gleeson described as a “nice wake-up”.
“It’s cultural so we’re very respectful,” she said. “It’s nice for us to hear these new cultural experiences. We’re in their country, so we’re super respectful.”
Interim manager Eileen Gleeson has encouraged the Republic players to adopt a more attacking approach that the safety-first philosophy espoused by previous boss Vera Pauw
Gleeson’s formation during her three games in charge since Vera Pauw’s departure has been more attack orientated than the Dutchwoman’s safety-first philosophy.
“We’re playing maybe a little bit higher up the pitch,” added Gleeson.
“These games allow us to do that, and we’re using players in different positions, just working on different areas that allows them to have a little bit of freedom then in their play and make their decisions.
“If there’s a little bit of caution, we’re just saying, ‘be brave, go for it, it’s your game, take it to the opposition and be brave in the moments and don’t be overly concerned about making a mistake’.”
The Albanians showed some technical ability on Friday with their goalscorer Megi Doc and Qendresa Krasniqi particularly impressive as they frustrated the Irish in the first half, but the visitors will looking to continue from where they left off in the second half at Tallaght Stadium.
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