Northern Ireland: confidence high for final friendly in Spain

Northern Ireland's Kelsie Burrows during Tuesday's training session at the Marbella Football Centre,
Author: Nigel GouldPublished 23rd Feb 2022

Northern Ireland's senior women's side take on Romania today (Wednesday) in their third and final friendly at their training camp in Marbella.

They go into the game having beaten the Faroe Islands 3-1 in their opener on Costa Del Sol and then drew 2-2 with Switzerland - a country ranked 29 places ahead of them in the overall world rankings.

Kenny Shiels is using the matches as important warm-up games for the Euros in England in the summer.

He told Downtown Radio & Cool FM earlier this week that his players feel comfortable going into any game and that "confidence was gradually replacing fear".

Joely Andrews

And speaking from their training camp ahead of today's game, Glentoran's 19-year-old midfielder Joely Andrews said the final game will be a real test of their character.

"It's been vital to get the opportunities to test ourselves against the best teams," she said.

"We're quite a tight-knit bunch of players and I think that helps us when we go out to play."

NI at their training camp