Ireland's journey to Sydney: From narrow Sweden loss to historic Scotland victory
Republic of Ireland Manager Vera Pauw celebrates qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with her squad in Hampden Park, Scotland. Photographer: Ryan Byrne / Inpho Photography
Some Swede and a bit of Gori combined in hurtling Ireland to their first ever major tournament.
And what a showpiece it is – one of only 12 European teams at the 32-nation World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
On the day of the draw in April 2021, Ireland manager Vera Pauw feared the Nordic neighbours Finland and Sweden were colluding during the fixtures meeting to carve out a sequence which left the Finns facing a Swedish team already qualified on the final day.
That was the case for the group’s top seeds but what they hadn’t banked on was Ireland filleting Finland, home and away, and burnishing it with an unlikely point on the road in Sweden.
They even recovered from the hiccup of dropping two points at home to Slovakia to wrap up the playoff spot with the return match in Senec to spare.
Clinching their first playoff spot since 2008 – when Noel King’s Euro ambitions skidded off course in Iceland – was a feat in itself, yet surpassing that in Scotland to achieve greatness was the ultimate test.
Amber was the colour at Hampden that night – flashing green lights to a land down under.
Best to get the one defeat of eight qualifiers out of the way early. Ireland were unable to torpedo the yellow submarine of Sweden in their opening Women’s World Cup qualifier at Tallaght, losing to a cruel own-goal from Louise Quinn.
The defender had bagged the winner in the preparatory win over Australia the previous month but was helpless to prevent hitting her own net from Stina Blackstenius’ shot that was going wide on 39 minutes.
Topping the top seeds was a tall order but after just 10 minutes Katie McCabe gave the Covid-19-enforced restricted capacity crowd of 4,017 something to shout about by receiving Lucy Quinn’s crossfield pass 25 yards and spearing a left foot shot towards goal.
Hedvig Lindahl watched the effort whistle wide and the goalkeeper was a spectator for the rest of the first half as the Swedes dominated possession without carrying a clinical edge until gifted the breakthrough.
Barcelona attacker Fridolina Rolfo squandered two chances to extend the winning margin – blazing over on 65 minutes before two minutes later firing straight at Courtney Brosnan after jinking inside and out of Louise Quinn.
That familiar Plan B of Louise Quinn being shunted up front – mimicking Shane Duffy’s versatility – forced the Swedes to tweak their formation to nullify the aerial threat and it worked for the late siege never materialised.
Victory for the Olympic silver medalists made it a perfect nine-point haul from their opening three matches. Finland, next up for Ireland, are on a maximum six points too, having eased past Georgia in that day’s other Group A fixture.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, Louise Quinn, S McCarthy; J Finn (L Kiernan 74), D O’Sullivan, M Connolly, K McCabe, Á O'Gorman; H Payne (A Barrett 74), Lucy Quinn (S Noonan 90+1).
Deborah Anex (Switzerland).
36/64.
4/13.
England have their Lionesses but this was the night to declare Ireland’s women as the nation’s Tigers.
In a three-way battle for top-two finish, beating the second seeds was a feat the Irish used as their springboard to create history.
Sonia O’Sullivan had in 1994 etched the Helsinki Olympic Stadium into the Irish psyche by becoming the first Euro gold medal winner of the 3,000 metres and it here that fellow Cork women Megan Connolly and Denise O’Sullivan brought women’s football into a new frontier.
Acts of bravery, courage and collegiality were shared among the players, most pertinently four minutes from the finish.
A crowd of almost 6,000 had for the first game at the national arena for eight years, expecting moments like the one falling to Linda Sällström late on.
A routine finish from Finland’s record goalscorer would only have salvaged a draw but the significance was broader insofar as the country’s record was on the brink of her 50th international goal.
Gasps were audible across the epic stadium’s two occupied stands when she rose to flick her header goalbound.
Time wasn’t the only thing that stood still in that incident as goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan had left her goal unguarded, yet Niamh Fahey was there to deny the Finns a point with a block on the line.
Connolly’s curling free-kick had Ireland in front before Adelina Engman buried the leveller shortly after the break but industrious work by Heather Payne, suspect goalkeeping from Tinja-Riika Korpela and O’Sullivan’s poacher’s header sealed a famous win five minutes later.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, Louise Quinn, S McCarthy; Á O'Gorman, J Finn, D O’Sullivan, M Connolly, K McCabe; H Payne, Lucy Quinn (R Jarrett 75).
Alexandra Collin (France).
5771.
68/32.
20/9.
A night that sucked the air of the Helsinki high.
Fourth seeds were in bullish form after losing by the narrowest of margins to both Sweden and Finland and outplayed Ireland in midfield.
Captain Katie McCabe redeemed her earlier mistake by pinching an equaliser but two dropped points constituted a major setback to their World Cup qualification hopes.
The Ireland captain was caught out of position for the move that led to Martina Šurnovská’s breakthrough 76 seconds into the second half.
Mediocre fare in the first half should’ve been rectified by the interval team talk but instead, from their own free-kick, Ireland got attracted to the right side, leaving them exposed to a counterattack on the opposite flank.
It duly unfolded when Ľudmila Maťavková was allowed advance undetected and her teasing cross was stabbed home at the back post by Šurnovská, who had eluded Niamh Fahey.
Tigerish instincts were needed and no better than local McCabe to enthuse the crowd of 5,164 when bulldozing into space and sinking her low shot home after 65 minutes.
If anyone was going to nick it, it was the visitors, aware victory was imperative to add their name to the qualification conversation. Brosnan miscontrolling the ball on the edge of her box almost led to the expansion; the American was grateful to Louise Quinn for scampering back to block Laura Žemberyová’s shot and sparing her embarrassment.
Outnumbered in the possession and chance count stakes, Ireland were fortunate to snaffle a point.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, Louise Quinn, S McCarthy; Á O'Gorman (R Littlejohn 70), J Finn, D O’Sullivan, M Connolly, K McCabe; H Payne, Lucy Quinn (K Carusa 84).
Jelena Cvetković (Serbia).
5164.
47/53.
9/13.
A pre-match downpour was followed by a deluge of goals as Ireland swept aside generous Georgia to move into second place at the midway point of their qualification group.
The landslide beat their previous record of 9-0 victories over Malta and Montenegro.
From the third minute when the hapless Maiko Bebia scored an own-goal, the home side were on easy street. The defender’s nightmare visit to Tallaght was completed when she was sent off 20 minutes from full-time.
Kyra Carusa marked her first start with a first goal on 21 minutes before Lucy Quinn drilled in the third 16 minutes later.
Deep into added time at the end of the first half, Denise O’Sullivan swept home from Ruesha Littlejohn’s cross before the Cork native completed her hat-trick during a four-minute second blitz.
She found the top corner with an exquisite shot from the edge of the box and applied a timely header on McCabe’s cross to make it six.
Bebia’s misfortune in handling Niamh Fahey shot cost her a penalty and a second yellow card, allowing McCabe to send the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot.
Three minutes later and the Arsenal playmaker’s repertoire was on show as she drifted in from the right and drilled a low shot inside Sukhashvili’s near post.
Two substitutes were next to rattle the net. Saoirse Noonan grabbed her first international goal with eight minutes left by finishing from close range after Megan Connolly’s header from McCabe’s corner was blocked on the line.
Amber Barrett then raced into the box to bury the tenth right with a minute to go before Connolly’s wind-assisted free flew straight into the net.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, Louise Quinn, D Caldwell; J Ziu (A Barrett 75), R Littlejohn (C Grant 67), D O’Sullivan, M Connolly, K McCabe; Lucy Quinn (R McLoughlin 67), K Carusa (S Noonan 75).
Jurgita Mačikunytė (LTU) Attendance: 3523.
75/25.
34/1.
In ABBA land, it didn’t need a winner to take it all as a point apiece served the needs of both sides.
Ireland came within 11 minutes of recording an unprecedented victory against the yellow wall – leading at the break through captain Katie McCabe’s deflected opener – but Real Madrid striker Kosovar Asllani pounced to equalise.
It was the first time in seven qualifiers for Sweden not to win but the single point sealed their place at next year’s World Cup. For Ireland, the draw keeps them well on track to consolidate second and enter the playoff series.
Chloe Mustaki’s first competitive cap at 26 and Megan Connolly’s switch to defence framed Ireland’s gameplan to stem the tide of a team ranked second in the world.
All bar the Irish fans among the 12,123 expected a carnival qualification party and it looked that way just past the half hour when Kosovare Asllani ghosted into the box and lifted the ball over Brosnan. Luckily, her shot crashed off the underside of the crossbar and was cleared.
When Magdalena Eriksson, such a composed customer for Chelsea, got blindsided by Denise O’Sullivan just inside her own half on the stroke of half-time, hauling her down to incur a merited booking, Ireland sensed a set-piece opening.
McCabe and Megan Connolly combined to fling in a cross which, despite Heather Payne failing to connect with, O’Sullivan recycled the loose ball for the unmarked McCabe to unleash a 20-yarder that clipped off Eriksson to wrongfoot Hedvig Lindahl.
Relentless pressure saw Brosnan tip a shot onto the bar but Asllani eventually scrambled in the leveller.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, L Quinn, M Connolly: J Finn, R Littlejohn, D O’Sullivan, C Mutaki; Lucy Quinn, K McCabe; H Payne (L Kiernan 74).
Iuliana Demetrescu (ROU) Attendance: 12,123.
71/29.
18/3.
In Joseph Stalin’s home city of Gori, Ireland were the dictators of pacing another step towards the World Cup playoffs.
Katie McCabe’s brace, along with Megan Connolly’s strike and a first for centurion Niamh Fahey, coasted Ireland into a 4-0 interval lead.
Two headers by centre-back Louise Quinn made it 6-0 before McCabe claimed her hat-trick and teen substitute Abbie Larkin also got off the international mark.
Denise O’Sullivan, denied on several occasions, grabbed a deserved ninth in injury time.
It wasn’t quite the 11-0 pulverisation Georgia suffered at Tallaght but it didn’t need to be. Goal difference isn’t the decisive factor if contenders are deadlocked on points.
Fitness, rather than a Georgian side that scored none and conceded 54 goals in eight qualifiers, was the only concern for Ireland – one mitigated by travelling to Turkey for a pre-qualification training camp.
Vera Pauw offered a clue of her priorities by leaving regular Jamie Finn out of the matchday squad to avoid the risk of a third booking ruling her out of the next assignment, the visit of Finland to Tallaght.
Neither the absence of Finn, nor the floods that engulfed Tbilisi and its surrounds presented any bother, for this was a whitewash that took just six minutes for the group’s minnows to be breached.
Once McCabe was afforded space just inside the box, she sent her rocket into the roof of the net. Target practice was more the order of the day, home goalkeeper Tatia Gabunia having her goal peppered with 34 attempts. Job done with no drama and importantly no injuries either.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, Louise Quinn, D Caldwell; H Payne (Lucy Quinn 61), R Littlejohn (L Agg 61), M Connolly, K McCabe; J Ziu, D O’Sullivan; A Barrett (A Larkin 62).
Meliz Özçiğdem (Turkey).
250.
29/71.
4/34.
Lily Agg, who only declared for Ireland earlier this year through her Cork grandmother Breda Greene, sent Ireland into their first-ever Women’s World Cup playoff on a night of high drama at Tallaght.
An injury sustained early on by Ruesha Littlejohn eventually forced a change three minutes before half-time and the replacement, Agg, buried a header on 53 minutes to seal victory.
Ireland knew three points would confirm second place with Tuesday’s final game in Slovakia to spare and despite a sluggish first-half, they got the job done against a limited Finnish outfit playing catch-up and under the caretaker management of Marko Saloranta.
The solitary goal was a controversial one, for Finland were down to 10 players due to Emma Koivisto being off the pitch following a challenge with Ireland captain Katie McCabe.
From Megan Connolly’s lofted free-kick, the London City Lionesses midfielder displayed her bravery by leaping high to beat the advancing Tinja-Riikka Korpela and nodding into an empty net in front of a record crowd of 6952.
As the side needing the win, Finland were lively from the outset, with Ireland struggling to cope.
Connolly’s defensive instincts were tested within two minutes as she cut out a wicked cross, sustaining broken ribs in the process that she insisted on playing on with. McCabe also showed another side to her game from the resultant corner by hacking Anna Westerlund’s toe-poke off the line.
Megan Campbell’s first international game for three years elevated the sense of joy, her ferocity from throw-ins another weapon in a rising tide.
C Brosnan; M Connolly, Louise Quinn, D Caldwell; J Finn, R Littlejohn (L Agg 42), D O’Sullivan, M Campbell (C Mustaki 76); J Ziu (Lucy Quinn 85), K McCabe; H Payne.
Stéphanie Frappart (FRA).
6952.
33/67.
10/9.
Fortune favours the brave and the hope is that Ireland’s golden streak of breaks continues into next month’s playoffs.
A sequence of five results in five days – including their two wins – have aligned to not alone clasp a first-ever World Cup playoff ticket for Ireland but bypass their route into the series final on October 11.
The last of those was delivered last night from a patchy game in Slovakia, settled on 36 minutes by a piece of brilliance by Diane O’Sullivan, her swivel creating the space to tuck the ball into the bottom corner.
Jess Ziu’s growing influence on the side was illustrated by igniting the move that engineered the game's solitary strike.
Heather Payne’s cutback into the corridor of uncertainty was too much for Jana Vojteková, whose outstretched foot only managed to poke the ball into the path of O’Sullivan. Without much time, she still had the nimbleness to turn and steer the ball into the far corner.
Once ahead, Ireland were never rattled against a Slovak side without anything to play for or imagination. They were a shadow of the team that pushed Ireland so strongly in Tallaght last November, not once testing Courtney Brosnan over the 90 minutes before a measly crowd of 490.
McCabe fired a dipping volley just past the upright on the hour and the returning Claire O’Riordan saw her shot amid a scramble cleared off the line by Patrícia Fischerová.
A wild shot from distance by substitute Tamara Morávková that sailed over six minutes from the end was the closest the hosts got to Brosnan’s goal.
C Brosnan; C O’Riordan, Louise Quinn, D Caldwell; H Scott (E Molloy 68), L Agg, D O’Sullivan, M Campbell; J Ziu, K McCabe; H Payne. (L Kiernan 83).
Maria Martinez (SPN).
490.
57/43.
6/9.
Twenty-five years on from the men’s team kickstarting the end of their tournament duck, Hampden also staged the women’s equivalent.
Amber Barrett, only four minutes on the pitch off the bench, rampaged past Sophie Howard to bear in on goal before deciding to take another touch.
Switching the ball from her left foot to right, the striker’s poise was validated by a superb languid toe-poked finish across Lee Alexander into the far corner.
Into a moment of joy came one of sorrow – the Donegalwoman sinking to her knees, pointing to the blank armband donned to commemorate victims of the previous weekend’s Creeslough tragedy in her home county.
Heroics at one end were matched by Courtney Brosnan at the other. Caroline Weir is to Scotland what McCabe and O’Sullivan are to Ireland, the svelte Real Madrid player capable of producing the match-winning moment.
She spurned that potential chance from the penalty spot after just 12 minutes.
Martha Thomas reacted first to send a shot crashing off the crossbar but Swiss referee Ester Staubli noticed the deflection came via Niamh Fahey’s arm.
A booking for the culprit and a penalty for the hosts but a moment to savour for Brosnan. who anticipated Weir’s spot-kick angling to her left.
That miss appeared to stifle the Scots for, aside from a tenuous claim for another penalty on 18 minutes when Thomas clattered into Brosnan, they spent the remainder of the half in defensive mode.
Ireland nearly profited. McCabe’s delicious cross on 36 minutes found Áine O’Gorman yet, perhaps the surprise inclusion couldn’t believe she was left unmarked, as she somehow scooped her header over the crossbar from six yards. It wouldn’t matter on what could have been O’Gorman’s second retirement. Rather, she’ll bow out at the pinnacle.
C Brosnan; N Fahey, Louise Quinn, D Caldwell; J Finn, L Agg, D O’Sullivan, M Campbell; Á O’Gorman, K McCabe; H Payne (A Barrett 67).
Ester Staubli (SUI).
10,850.
65/35.
16/11.
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