Fishlock seeking 'best achievement and biggest accomplishment'

Uefa Women's Euro play-off final, first leg: Wales v Republic of Ireland

Venue: Cardiff City Stadium Date: Friday, 29 November Kick-off: 19:15 GMT

Coverage: Live on BBC One Wales, iPlayer, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary

Highlights: S4C, 22:00 GMT and later on demand.

Wales’ most-capped player and record goalscorer Jess Fishlock says reaching a major tournament with her country would be her "best achievement and biggest accomplishment."

Wales will reach a major tournament for the first time if they can overcome Republic of Ireland over two-legs with a place at Euro 2025 in Switzerland up for grabs for the victor.

Wales host Ireland on Friday, 29 December before the return leg in Dublin on Tuesday, 3 December.

Fishlock, 37, inspired Wales in their semi-final victory over Slovakia and prior to the first leg of the final in Cardiff in front of a record crowd for a Wales women's international, Fishlock says she is not looking too far ahead due to the "magnitude," of the task.

"I'm excited, what is there to not be excited about? Massive games, these are the games you want to play in,” she told Feast of Football.

"I'm trying not to think too much about what could happen. If you do that, it can stop you from doing what you need to do in the moment.

"We have good players. We know what can happen if we play well and win these games. But the first thing is we have to perform. We have to do our jobs, basically.

"Occasions like this, the magnitude of it can be overwhelming so I go into them with the thought process of playing the game I love, the way I have my whole career and hopefully, hopefully that will be enough."

Fishlock, who has scored 46 goals in 156 Wales games, was a major fitness doubt for Wales' semi-final victory over Slovakia having not played for a month due to a leg injury sustained with club side Seattle Reign.

The midfielder came off the bench to create Wales' goal in their 2-1 first leg defeat and then produced a virtuoso performance as Wales held their nerve to win the second leg 2-0 after extra time.

Fishlock admits she was not fully fit for the semi-final and had to rely on her teammates to pull her through, while she has been undergoing personal training sessions with the Wales coaches in recent days as her club season is finished in the USA.

"In the last camp I wasn't quite at 100%, so doing individual coaching has been really helpful for me," she said.

"The team did a lot of my running against Slovakia. I said before the game 'I'm going to give you everything I have, but I might need a bit of help here. I need a bit of your legs for recovery runs, because I just haven't got it right now.'

"It’s nice to be able to be honest and vulnerable to your mates. All of the girls were just like 'yeah, we've got you.'

"You need that. I've got such a good bunch of girls around me."

Wales will be competing in a play-off final for a second time, having lost 2-1 to Switzerland in a World Cup play-off final in 2022.

However, that was a one-legged final with Wales having to play a semi-final in the lead-up to the match and Fishlock feels the experience can be of benefit as Wales look to beat a side that played in that World Cup.

"When we played Switzerland, they didn't have a semi-final and we flew there to play three days after playing 120 minutes," Fishlock added.

"Switzerland hadn't played and had a 10-day camp. They were floating on air compared to us.

"The emotion that the win takes us out of your body, the Bosnia game just drained us completely.

"This is two-legs and we look forward to that."

Fishlock will be 38-years old by the time Euro 2025 kicks-off and she admits the thought of the end of her Wales career has popped into her mind.

"Everyone knows how much playing for Wales means to me and what it would mean to get to a major tournament. It's not just about me. Everybody wants it. Everyone has their stories and their dreams," she said.

"I have played for Wales for a very long time. There is going to come a point when I no longer can and that is just a reality. I am going to have to let it go at some point.

"That will probably be the hardest moment of my career. But it will also be an important moment in my life. How much I have achieved within that does give me some peace about it.

"I know deep down I am ready for that moment, but it will be tough for sure."