Louise Quinn the hero as Ireland end seven-match losing streak
Louise Quinn of Republic of Ireland, centre, celebrates with team-mates after scoring their side's third goal. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Ireland’s women ended their seven-match losing streak in style by beating Australia at Tallaght Stadium thanks to Louise Quinn’s 49th minute winner.
That was the third time for Vera Pauw’s side to take the lead in the friendly and they held onto it against a side sitting 23 places above them in the Fifa rankings.
In the final warm-up game before the World Cup qualifiers start next month, Pauw vowed to play her strongest team and the selection unveiled spelt grim news for Grace Moloney and Diane Caldwell.
Moloney, as the only goalkeeper in the squad playing regularly in the Women’s Super League, would have a strong case for inclusion but Pauw went for Courtney Brosnan, back-up stopper at Everton.
Perhaps more surprising was the demotion of Caldwell. She has been a first-choice since winning the first of her 83 caps 15 years ago but the 32-year-old, who was recruited by top American side North Carolina Courage this year, was overlooked in place of Savannah McCarthy.
It was quite an elevation for the Kerry native who only regained her place in the squad for the first time in Pauw’s tenure after impressing in a recent home-based training session.
The Galway United defender slotted in as one of three centre-backs on the left side, providing the protection to allow skipper Katie McCabe advance from wing-back.
While Pauw had to contend with a spate of injuries, so too did the visitors.
Only five of the team that started their Olympic semi-final defeat to Sweden seven weeks ago were included, by captain Sam Kerr on her 100th cap.
But it was a striker at the other end only starting her international career that got the game off to a bang.
It has taken Lucy Quinn all of five years to process her eligibility to represent Ireland through her Sligo grandparents but took less than three minutes to grab her first goal.
Those petty rule-makers will probably chalk the goal off her after the curling free-kick she executed ricocheted off goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold’s back and into the net from hitting the post. Doubtless Quinn, who won the foul herself, will nevertheless claim the goal as her first contribution to the Ireland cause.
A sizeable chunk of the permitted 3,341 crowd for the early kickoff was still entering Tallaght Stadium when that breakthrough was forged but they still got to savour three more goals in a frenetic first half.
The Matildas started six players based in the English Women’s Super League, along with a cohort dotted through Australia, USA and Sweden but it was their sole representative from the French league who was at the core of their threat.
And, had she decided otherwise, Montpellier attacker Mary Fowler could have been lining up on the green side.
That prospect was never really a runner once Australia capped her at the age of 15 and three years on, following an impressive Olympics, she’s developed into one of her homeland’s leading lights.
On 14 minutes, the 18-year-old profited from her first sight at goal.
Emily Gielnik’s knockdown allowed her to shoot but Brosnan’s blunder, allowing the ball to squirm from her grasp into the net, was a major contributory factor in the equaliser.
Brosnan redeemed herself by saving Kerr’s bullet header seven minutes later and, down the other end, Manchester City defender Alanna Kennedy was relieved to see her attempted clearance rattle the crossbar. Lucy Quinn blazed the rebound wide.
With the game wide open, the pace of Heather Payne swept her past Courtney Nevin on 24 minutes, only for her effort to be stopped by the legs of Courtney Nevin.
From McCabe’s resultant corner, however, Ireland re-established their lead. Louise Quinn’s presence in the box caused chaos, with the clearance falling to Denise O’Sullivan, who drifted wide before getting a shot away. Fortunately, it took a deflection off Kyra Cooney-Cross and squeezed into the net off the near post for her 12th international goal.
Inevitably, the Aussies regrouped and it took a goal-line clearance from McCarthy to deny Gielnik an equaliser on 37 minutes.
Cooney-Cross fired over from distance before Fowler grabbed her second in first-half stoppage time with a speculative shot that deflected off McCarthy to wrongfoot Brosnan.
Pegged back for a second time, Ireland stuck to their task and got ahead for the third and decisive occasion within four minutes of the restart.
Once again, McCabe’s delivery was pinpoint, picking out her former Arsenal colleague Louise Quinn at the back post to guide her header home.
The centre-back nodded over from an identical set-piece on the hour but her most telling contribution was a block in her own box as Gielnik was poised to slot in the leveller on 80 minutes. Relief for Ireland but it will only matter if they use it as a springboard for the competitive series starting off next month with a double-header against top seeds Sweden and Finland, who both won their campaign openers today.
C Brosnan; Á O'Gorman, N Fahey, Louise Quinn, S McCarthy, K McCabe; J Finn (D Caldwell 89), D O’Sullivan, A Barrett (N Farrelly 60); H Payne (L Kiernan 90), Lucy Quinn (E Whelan 73).
M Arnold (L Williams 46); C Polkinghorne, C Nevin (A Beard 69), A Kennedy (E Checker 46); T Yallop (C Grant 68), C Logarzo (C Wheeler 53), K Cooney-Cross, M Fowler, S Catley; E Gielnik, S Kerr.
Paula Brady (IRL).
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