Vera Pauw has described the process of selecting the 23 players to go to the World Cup as the “worst day” of her career.
Pauw had to break the hearts and dreams of several members of her training squad, including midfielder Jamie Finn, who had been a regular during the qualifiers.
Finn will still travel to Australia as one of three training players, along with goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse and defender Harriet Scott.
However, Pauw said there were tears as she spoke to each player one-by-one to inform them of their World Cup fates.
“I spoke to Louise Quinn and she said she got hit by the pain more than the celebration of making it,” said Pauw.
“That shows how strong we have built together and how close we are. I had the hard task to be responsible for the final decision.
“It’s the worst day in my career. Not the best. Yesterday was the worst and hopefully from today it will become better.”
The former Scotland, Netherlands, Russia and South Africa boss added: “I’ve never experienced this before.
“It’s the bond that I have with these players, it’s the hard work.
“Also how they stood behind me in difficult times and how the FAI stood behind me. How Ireland has embraced me. Everything together.
“Telling players that really stood up for you that they are not going to the World Cup and breaking their dreams…yeah.”
There was bad news too for Liverpool striker Leanne Kiernan, who was sidelined for most of last season with an ankle injury.
She managed a half-hour at club level before playing in the first-half of the Zambia friendly last week.
For Manchester United defender Aoife Mannion and out-of-contract full-back Megan Campbell, the World Cup has come too early.
Addressing Kiernan’s absence, Pauw said: “Unfortunately it’s football fitness. She only played 30 minutes in one year and then 45 minutes now.
“We gave her the chance to fully train and she did really well. But the data showed the time between explosive actions were getting longer as the first-half went on.
“And other players were getting exposed to the higher levels so technically you have to take that decision because the World Cup level will be twice as high.
“It’s not that she didn’t give her all, or we didn’t give her chances. Sh grew and grew but unfortunately it’s a little bit too early.
“We went through all the players, all the games, every moment of every player in the last few weeks.
“We gave some players extra chances and some got chances until the last second.
“We finished on Monday night at 1am and we were getting tired so we started again at 8am after a few hours’ sleep.
“After the training, we watched the video again to give the hardest decisions another chance and we are convinced we made the right decisions.
“The final decision was made after the session and watching the video.
“We had to make it then. That is elite sport but I have broken dreams. It is so hard for them because that World Cup will never come back.
“For them it is the hardest. We had to go through this. It was difficult, very difficult.
“We haven’t been able to sit down one on one with the players who did make the squad, only those who did not make the squad.
“For the players who did make it, it was not a celebration. Of course there were tears that they were going, but there were tears of pain for the others.”
As for Mannion, Pauw added: “Aoife had no chance. She flew in on Monday to have this last chance. She was very strong.
“We went back to all the specialists and the first 11 v 11 contact would only have been just before Australia or between Canada and Australia.
“She could have played five minutes.
“Unfortunately for Megan there was also no chance. The risk would have been too great.”
