Manager Eileen Gleeson said the Republic of Ireland scored some “very good goals” in their dominant 6-0 win over Georgia in Tbilisi.
Arsenal’s Katie McCabe’s penalty gave the visitors the lead at the break before they netted five more times in ruthless fashion.
Kyra Carusa flicked home a second goal, before McCabe netted from 40 yards to add a third.
Jess Stapleton made it four after a lengthy video assistant referee (VAR) delay, before substitute Marissa Sheva and Aoife Mannion netted in injury time.
The result gave Gleeson’s side a comfortable cushion going into the second leg of the play-off at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday night as the Irish look to qualify for a first Women’s Euros.
“I wasn’t worried [when it was 1-0 at half-time], but I would have liked them [the goals] to come a little bit earlier,” Gleeson told RTE.
“We knew what we would face today, a low block, they were very resilient in that. We wanted our speed of play to be better and to get more balls into the box and we had to wait to the second half to open them up.
“I thought the players that came on made a real impact.
“Abbie Larkin had a great performance tonight and, in the end, some very good goals were scored.”
Three players netted their first senior international goals, including Stapleton who had to wait over five minutes to celebrate while a VAR check took place.
Gleeson said decisions needed to be made “much quicker.”
“The cameras weren’t working,” he added. “We had live feed to the bench, so we were offering them to have a look, it wasn’t a handball.
“It’s great that they want to bring VAR in line with the men’s game, but I feel like they need to make sure they have the right facilities because that’s obviously a very long delay in the game.
“It’s not the referee’s fault the technical equipment wasn’t working but it needs to be much quicker than that.”
If they can avoid a comeback in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland will face the winner of the play-off between Wales and Slovakia for a place at Euro 2025.
Slovakia will take a 2-1 lead into the reverse fixture in Cardiff.
