Bell: Dutch are coming here to put five or six past us

Reflecting the growing interest in the exploits of the girls in green, there was a record attendance of 3,500 for a women’s home international in Tallaght last Friday, as Ireland beat Slovakia 2-1 in their qualifying game for the 2019 World Cup finals in France.

But to put that in perspective, there were over 30,000 in Eindhoven to see the Netherlands put seven past Northern Ireland on the same evening.

That’s just one measure of the gulf which ostensibly separates the two nations as they meet in Tallaght this evening, the Dutch team having captured the hearts of their own people with last year’s European Championship triumph on home soil.