A SPECIAL night — this is how Carla Ward described her baptism as Ireland manager.
But the new boss did admit to some pre-match nerves as she contemplated making the step up from club level.
The Girls in Green beat Turkey 1-0 in Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.
And Ward said: “In the WSL you know every single thing about every player, you know everything about everyone.
“This is slightly different. You never really know how it’s going to go.
“You want to get your first three points, but in the last ten, 15 minutes I was thinking, ‘Welcome to international football’.
“Scrappy, not pretty but what is most important is you get three points on the board.”
The points were secured thanks to forward Kyra Carusa, who scored the winner against Nations League rivals Turkey.
Former Aston Villa boss Ward — who replaced Eileen Gleeson in January — admitted said she was happy to get game No 1 under her belt.
She said: “It’s where I want to be, competing on the world stage. I’m delighted to be here.
“You want to make sure that those that employed you know they’ve made the right decision, whether that’s club or country.
“Look, ideally we would have got the second goal and it would have been a little bit more comfortable. I was just delighted to hear the final whistle, to be honest.”
The ex-Birmingham City and Sheffield United supremo will be looking for improvements ahead of Tuesday’s Group 2 game away to Slovenia.
She said: “This is a really strong group of players that are ambitious, that want to kick on.
“It won’t be all pats on the backs, it will be how can we make sure we’re better in every single area.
“Me being me, I’ll pick the life out of it and look at every single way we can improve.”
