Denise O'Sullivan has no desire to dampen expectations as the Republic of Ireland head towards a huge 2024.
New ground has been broken over the last 12 months but, rather than satisfy the squad’s appetite, the taste of a first ever major tournament has made them hungry for more.
Ireland failed to make it out of their group at last summer's World Cup, losing narrowly to Australia and Canada before drawing with Nigeria.
Clearly there were off-the-field tensions with boss Vera Pauw, who departed a few weeks after the team came home, but that wasn’t particularly evident in their displays. The Girls in Green were organised and competitive in a tough group, pushing the Aussies and Canadians hard in Sydney and Perth respectively.
Nonetheless, O’Sullivan has admitted she expected more from herself Down Under. It's been a recurring theme among the senior figures since Pauw's exit. They're not content just to reach tournaments; they want to make a genuine impact once they get there.
"I'm very competitive and I do think personally, I could have done better and as a team, we could have done better," O’Sullivan said ahead of Friday’s UEFA Nations League clash against Hungary at Tallaght Stadium.
"I could probably speak for most of the team; they would say that. Going into the Euros [qualifiers], obviously, it's going to be really tough again, but as a group, we're always looking to improve within every game.
"Knowing the potential that we do have in the group, I think we can go on and do good things in the Euros. It’s going to be hugely tough, but as I said, we have exceptional players. It’s probably one of the best squads we’ve had in a long time, so we will want to do better for sure."
The qualifiers for Euro 2025 begin in the spring. By then, Ireland will have a permanent boss in place, with Eileen Gleeson's interim reign coming to its conclusion after Ireland's final group game against Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
They've already won the group - thanks to O'Sullivan's late winner in Albania last month - and sealed promotion to League A, where the top 16 teams in Europe are housed.
"I think as a professional player, they're the teams that you want to be playing," stressed the Cork woman.
"You want to be playing the best in the world, because that's how you're going to improve and that's how you're going to really test yourself. We're really excited to be doing that and we're very happy that we got promoted.
"But as I said, we will be focusing on ourselves these last two games and really putting in very, very good performances and getting six points, hopefully."
O'Sullivan has finished her club campaign with North Carolina Courage in the NWSL and will stay in the USA to keep ticking over fitness wise before returning to her native city for Christmas.
The lure of home is hard to resist, with the recent exploits of a certain Bray fighter stirring up the midfielder's national pride.
"She is the best sportsperson in Ireland," O'Sullivan said of the recently crowned undisputed super-lightweight champion Katie Taylor.
"She's just so inspiring, what she does. Every single one of us on this team are fans of her, and what she’s done for this country, just bringing great joy to the country at the weekend, it was amazing to watch."
Home is indeed where O'Sullivan's heart is, and she's looking forward to getting back.
"I've been in America since the last camp, I haven't gone home yet.
"I needed to keep training and I needed to keep myself at a high standard so the best thing for me was to stay there, have all the good facilities and what I'm really used to, still have myself in a routine but I'll back to Cork after this for some kids camps that I'm doing so that should be interesting, that should be good. It's exciting.
"Then I'll go back to America and I'll come home for Christmas. A bit of back and forth after this camp, a lot of traveling but need to come home for Christmas for my mam. She'd be devastated otherwise!"
Watch Republic of Ireland v Hungary in the UEFA Nations League on Friday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on 2fm
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