The Republic of Ireland’s Women’s team maintained their unbeaten record at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork last Friday with a 3-2 win over the Netherlands to lift them up to second place in their World Cup qualifying group.
The Girls in Green will play leaders France in Grenoble, while third placed Netherlands will be home to Poland. A win is needed to get to the World Cup automatically with the Netherlands likely to beat Poland. But a third place finish should get the Irish girls a favorable draw in the play-offs.
Friday night was wet and windy on Leeside and after absorbing early pressure from the Dutch, the home side struck on 18 minutes. Abbie Larkin did brilliantly to battle for possession and poke a neat pass into the path of strike partner Kyra Carusa. Showing immense composure, Carusa hit a brilliant first-time effort on the greasy surface, and the ball trickled past Dutch keeper Lize Kop and into the far corner of the net. In the second ,Netherlands piled on the pressure, but they repeatedly ran into a brick wall in the form of Irish goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan. The Ireland shot-stopper produced a pair of truly world-class saves to preserve the lead.
Dutch parity was finally restored in the 69th minute when Groenen was brought down in the penalty area by Aoife Mannion. Dominique Janssen stepped up to take the spot-kick, Brosnan got a hand to the ball, but couldn’t’ prevent it entering the net. A few minutes later Ireland were ahead again. Marissa Sheva delivered a superb, teasing cross and young Dubliner Abbie Larkin reacted quickest, nipping in ahead of her marker at the front post to send a deflected strike past Kop to restore Ireland’s lead. With 13 minutes remaining, Dutch substitute Victoria Pelova showed composure in a crowded box to finish from close range, setting up a grandstand finish. In the 89th minute, Ireland’s relentless attacking pressure yielded a corner. The ball was whipped into the box where Anna Patten rose to flick the ball toward the back post and there was sub Amber B arret to score the winner. The Donegal-born forward famously scored the winner against Scotland to send the Irish girls to the 2023 World Cup in Australia. Leanne Kiernan was shown a late red card after two bookings.
Later on Friday evening 2,900 miles away in the Saputo Stadium in Montreal our men’s team were wrapping up their season with a 1-1 draw against Canada. A Jake O’Brien own goal gave the hosts the lead, but a much-improved second-half performance saw Ireland take control against the World Cup-bound Canadians, with Chiedozie Ogbene levelling the tie. Irish manager coach Heimir Hallgrímsson made six changes to the side that beat Qatar in Dublin the previous week, with Bohemians captain Dawson Devoy and Cork-born Jaden Umeh, who plays for Benfica, among those brought into the starting line-up in. Joe Hodge, who also plays in Portugal for Tondela, Kian Leavy from St Patrick’s Athletic and Adam Brennan of Shamrock Rovers also made their debut in Montreal. Canada took the lead in the 24th minute when a corner from the left delivered by Eustáquio to the far post took a deflection off Jake O’Brien and into the net to give the hosts the advantage. Ireland were awarded a penalty in the 59th minute after Jamie McGrath challenged for the ball with Larin in the Canadian penalty area. The Canadian forward caught McGrath in the head, and the referee pointed to the spot. Troy Parrott, our hero earlier this season, saw his penalty kick saved by Canadian ‘keeper Crépeau, but Ogbene was quickest to react, firing home the rebound to level the tie.
