Late Eriksson goal seals Sweden victory breaking Irish hearts

HEARTBREAKING: Republic of Ireland head coach Eileen Gleeson speaks to her players after the game. Pic:  Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Euro 2025 qualifier Group A3: Sweden 1 (Eriksson 84) Republic of Ireland 0

A backs-to-the-wall Irish performance was denied by a fluky winner off the back of Magdalena Eriksson to remain bottom of their Euro 2025 qualifying group.

There were still no goals but an outstanding defensive performance led by Caitlin Hayes looked likely to hold out for a first point until the 84th-minute breakthrough.

Jonna Andersson sent an inswinging corner into the crowded six-yard box and the ball flicked off the Bayern Munich centurion and into the net. Courtney Brosnan facepalmed to the turf in despair to sum up the Irish mood at Stockholm’s Friends Arena.

It marked an improved performance from the 3-0 defeat to the same opponents on home soil last Friday but without cracking the code of scoring against such high-ranked sides.

Goalless for six games in 2024, the closest they came to a late leveller was an Amber Barrett shot in hope gathered at the near post by Zećira Mušović.

Eileen Gleeson made three changes with Katie McCabe thankfully not among them as the captain was fit to continue at left-back. She did, however, pick up her second yellow card of the campaign and will miss the visit to England next month as a result.

Aoife Mannion, Ruesha Littlejohn, and Leanne Kiernan came in as Anna Patten, Jessie Stapleton, and Barrett dropped out.

That meant switching to a compact 4-2-3-1 formation, which made Ireland more defensively solid than last Friday’s loss. The pace of Chelsea winger Johanna Rytting Kaneryd did test McCabe out wide but in the centre, Hayes was winning her duels in the air and on the ground.

Their attacking attempts were increasingly limited as the game progressed although there were some early sparks of intent. Jess Ziu was cynically hauled down within half a minute as centre-back Eriksson picked up an instant booking.

On the other flank, Kiernan made her first of many positive runs forward, albeit a corner was the most she could shake from the Swedish defence as her crosses couldn’t find their targets.

Before long, the game settled into a pattern of Swedish possession and Irish containment.

There was a fleeting heart-in-mouth moment when Brosnan was charged down by Kosovare Asllani but the ball trickled well wide. Some more casual defending allowed the dangerous Rytting Kaneryd to swing in a cross for Champions League-winner Fridolina Rolfö who should’ve done better than heading over.

The Barça attacker hit the target with her next effort after wriggling away from Louise Quinn but Brosnan made a strong save. The keeper was helped out next time by the back-tracking Ziu to block Madelen Janogy’s effort.

In between, Megan Connolly’s volley from a half-cleared corner pinballed wide of the goal.

There was an enforced change before half-time after Quinn indicated she was feeling some tightness during a break in play. Patten stepped into the breach and settled quickly alongside Hayes.

Brosnan produced a superb save on the restart to palm away Janogy’s header from a free-kick although it wouldn’t have counted as the offside flag was raised. When Patten made a mistake moments later, Hayes slid across to stop the Fiorentina forward.

Mannion was next to suffer a lapse in judgement when taking her time to clear an awkward cross. Her eventual effort deflected off Rolfö but mercifully straight at Brosnan who reacted sharply to prevent it from crossing the line.

Sweden began to make mistakes as they forced the issue. Asllani didn’t see the wide-open Rytting Kaneryd on a counter. Rolfö fresh-aired with a chance to shoot.

As the game meandered towards its conclusion, Peter Gerhardsson called on a triple-change with home frustrations growing due to the dwindling number of chances.

But just as Ireland looked comfortable, a corner condemned them to back-to-back losses.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (4-2-3-1): C Brosnan; A Mannion, C Hayes, Louise Quinn (A Patten 41), K McCabe; M Connolly, R Littlejohn (J Stapleton 57); L Kiernan (A Barrett 79), L Agg (A Larkin 57), J Ziu (Lucy Quinn 79); K Carusa.

SWEDEN (4-3-3): Z Mušović; H Lundkvist, L Sembrant, M Eriksson, J Andersson; F Angeldahl (H Bennison 68), K Asllani (S Jakobsson 68), J Zigotti Olme; J Rytting Kaneryd (P Hammarlund 85), M Janogy (R Kafaji 68), F Rolfö.

Referee: A Peşu (ROU).