Ireland's Euro heartbreak will linger on throughout 2025

The Girls in Green's next tournament qualifier won't be played until February 2026.

HEARTBREAK: Republic of Ireland head coach Eileen Gleeson, with players from second from left, Anna Patten, Denise O'Sullivan and Niamh Fahey. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Life moves on, insists Megan Connolly, but the Irish women’s team will have to trundle along until their next tournament qualifier in February 2026.

Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Wales, completing a 3-2 aggregate loss, was one of only two ties across the seven Euro playoffs in which a League A country was knocked out by a League B nation.

With respect to the Dragons, this was Ireland’s best chance of reaching a first-ever Euros – tacking it onto their World Cup breakthrough of last year.

Friday’s first leg 1-1 draw in Cardiff illustrated the gaps Ireland could exploit but instead an absence of composure cost them as a frenetic opening half failed to register an opener and should have seen captain Katie McCabe red-carded.

Although the visitors were fortunate to be granted a penalty, a slow-motion VAR check spotting the ball brushing the arm of Anna Patten, they dissected Ireland twice again before Carrie Jones sprinted clear to pocket a second.

Manager Eileen Gleeson chose Marissa Sheva as the joker off the bench to penetrate for the second half in the first leg but demonstrating inconsistency, the American wasn’t one of the five sprang into action this time.

Shane Duffy would have been proud of the aerial bombardment which Ireland defaulted to in search of a remedy but Patten’s reply from McCabe’s corner was all they could muster.

Devastation at the final whistle in Lansdowne Road was inevitable, a realisation how the chance to avail of Uefa’s favoured system to qualify was blown.

When Gleeson succeeded World Cup qualifying boss Vera Pauw 15 months ago, initially as caretaker, the fluctuation in quality of opposition was merely preparation for this decider over two legs.

Ireland only have themselves to blame for not putting away a nation ranked five places behind in Fifa’s standings and they’ll have a long time to absorb the pain.

That was surpass next summer’s 16-team Euros in Switzerland, for 2025 is a zombie year in its entirety.

“After Christmas, the Nations League games and World Cup qualifiers begin, so life moves on,” said Cork native Connolly, currently at Lazio.

True, they have six Nations League fixtures over three windows, in February, April and May, against Slovenia, Greece and Turkey but that’s a repeat of the League B chasm they hurdled in the immediate aftermath of the Pauw reign.

Presuming they top the pool, Ireland will enter League A for the regulation qualification draw on November 4 but the 2027 World Cup, hosted by Brazil, will have only 11 spots for European teams. One additional will get a shot at navigating through the convoluted intercontinental round.

Hence two Christmases will actually have passed before the start of the real business, however difficult that will be.

Who’s in charge of the Ireland team and what composition the side will take are the unknowns at this stage.

Gleeson was appointed on a one-campaign basis and her failure will convince the FAI to assess alternatives. The delay in her upgrading to permanency this month last year stemmed from her desire for a fallback within the FAI, were this situation to arise.

She had been promoted from the role as head of women’s and girls’ football and that vacancy was filled in April by Hannah Dingley.

It leaves chief football officer Marc Canham with a challenge but one he must confront, aware the manager during the barren year will be overseeing a revamp.

Jessie Stapleton’s promotion to the starting XI was the only reason Ireland’s average age dropped from 30. By the time the World Cup qualifiers kick off, Niamh Fahey will be 38, Diane Caldwell 37, Louise Quinn 35, Ruesha Littlejohn 35 and Julie-Ann Russell 34.

Both of the team’s world-class talents, McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan, will be in their thirties, as will Courtney Brosnan, Aoife Mannion, Caitlin Hayes and Kyra Carusa.

Much of the younger batch have limited international experience and the long wait for Manchester City recruit Tara O’Hanlon prolongs due to her injury problems.

With no looming scope for a bounce, Ireland will be lucky to stand still after this crushing blow.