Ireland's women frustrated by classy Spanish side

Ireland 0

In what was already a daunting task, gifting Spain their opening goal yesterday at Tallaght Stadium triggered the start of Ireland’s downfall in this European Championship qualifier.

That concession on the half hour to the group’s top seeds was swiftly followed by a second goal a minute before the break, rendering the second half an exhibition of keep-ball by the classy Spaniards. They crowned victory with a third goal in stoppage-time.

It was the last of 17 efforts Spain mustered during the game. Ireland were confined to one shot on target over the 90 minutes when Sophie Perry forced Dolores Gallardo to tip around the post on the hour mark.

That was a rare deviation from the pattern of the game, one which underlined why Ireland are battling in the pool with Portugal and Finland for the runners-up spot which should be sufficient to join Spain at the 2017 finals in the Netherlands.

“We showed Spain too much respect in the first half and they took advantage,” admitted Ronan following a game attended by 2,763 spectators on a crisp afternoon. “There was a little bit of fear without realising it because we dropped too deep. Still, the performance improved in the second half and I was proud of their efforts.

“As the third seed in the group, we aimed for the runners-up spot and that objective hasn’t changed.”

The first of what Ronan described as “avoidable” goals arrived when midfielder Vicky Losada struck a low shot across Arsenal clubmate Emma Byrne in the Irish goal and into the far corner after a miscued clearance dropped directly at her feet.

Spain doubled the lead with the half-time whistle looming as Jennifer Hermoso slotted home a penalty controversially awarded when Amanda Sampedro fell theatrically under the challenge of Sophie Perry.

Despite Perry coming close for Ireland, they conceded a third through Olga Garcia’s curler, aided by a deflection of the luckless Perry.

IRELAND:

E Byrne (Arsenal); A O’Gorman (UCD Waves), N Fahey (Chelsea), L Quinn (Eskilstuna), S Perry (Brighton); D Caldwell (Avaldsnes), K Duggan (UCD Waves); S Killeen (Shels), D O’Sullivan (Glasgow City), JA Russell (UCD Waves); R Littlejohn (Celtic).

Subs:

M De Burca (Galway) for Killeen (46), C Shine (Glasgow City) for Littlejohn (67), S Roche (Sunderland) for Duggan (80).

SPAIN:

Gallardo; Torrejon, Paredes, Garcia, Serrano; Losada, Torrecilla, Putellas; Corredera, Hermoso, Sampedro. Subs: Garcia for Corredera (59), Jimenez for Sampedro (80 mins), Alexandra for Losada (88 mins).

Referee:

S Frappart (France).