O'Sullivan and Campbell added to Ward's injury list

The Republic of Ireland have suffered a blow ahead of the first of two friendlies against the USA in Denver tomorrow, with the news that experienced defender Megan Campbell and midfielder Denise O'Sullivan have both been ruled out of the game through injury.

Campbell, who recently set a world record for the longest throw in women's football, suffered an ankle knock in training while O’Sullivan - who is based in the US with North Carolina Courage - picked up a knee injury playing against Houston Dash in an NWSL game on Sunday.

Although she reported into the Ireland camp, the Cork woman won't face the world’s No 1-ranked team in the early hours of Friday morning (2am Irish time, live on RTÉ Player).

Head coach Carla Ward, speaking to RTÉ Sport at the Ireland team’s training base in Jefferson County, north of Denver, admitted that the loss of two of her more experienced players was a big setback.

"I know that the US would have been gearing up for Denise. There's no question about it. You know, it's a big loss in this first game, but she's been around the group, she’s going to make sure she can influence off the pitch, and hopefully we have her for the second game.

There'll be no Denise O'Sullivan or Megan Campbell for the Republic of Ireland against the USA on Friday morning (2am, live on @RTEplayer ), but boss Carla Ward tells @Corktod she expects others to embrace the challenge against Emma Hayes' world No 1-ranked team #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/mojnGqdmBS — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 25, 2025

"But when people ask me around this group what surprised you, the one thing I say is, Denise O'Sullivan's quality.

"I always knew she was good, but working with her, you realise just how good she is she's an unbelievable talent, and to miss her is a huge, huge loss."

Ward already had to plan without her captain Katie McCabe who was allowed to miss the trip to the States following Arsenal’s Champions League success. Other regulars missing from the squad include Aoife Mannion, Heather Payne and Leanne Kiernan.

"We'll see where we're at for the second game, so, look, the size of the task is huge, and then I think when you leave people like Katie, Heather, Leanne, and people like that at home and then you lose another couple of big players that usually start, I think that puts us in a really in a difficult spot," Ward added.

"Like I said, if we can go away from the result part of it and look at, you know, trying to implement some pieces of the puzzle that we're trying to put together, then that's got to be the focus."

Watch USA v Republic of Ireland on Friday from 2am on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.

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