Abbie Larkin pounces at death to send Ireland into top tier of Nations League
28 October 2025; Abbie Larkin of the Republic of Ireland, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring her side's first goal during the UEFA Women's Nations League A/B promotion/relegation play-off second leg. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
On a night for stalwarts, a fresh-faced 20-year-old Abbie Larkin stole the headlines and fired Ireland into the top tier of nations for next year’s World Cup qualifiers.
Belgium took 39 minutes to cancel out Ireland’s two-goal advantage through Tessa Wullaert’s brace on home soil but substitute Larkin pounced in the final minutes to hook the ball home from close range for only her second goal in 30 internationals.
It was a goal to extinguish the Belgian Red Flames.
Victory crowned Katie McCabe’s 100th cap, putting them on the road to Brazil by being guaranteed a playoff route regardless of how the regular qualifiers go between February and June. The draw takes place on Tuesday.
Having admitted her side were both outfought and outplayed in the first leg, Elisabet Gunnarsdottir applied drastic surgery to her team by making four changes.
Suspended duo Jill Janssens and Justine Vanhaevermaet were reinstated and the Icelander changed her formation to match Ireland’s in a bid to avoid the flows of attacks they failed to stem at Lansdowne Road.
That meant Vanhaevermaet was placed into direct combat with her Crystal Palace teammate Ruesha Littlejohn in midfield, making for a tantalising battle between the thirtysomethings.
Carla Ward kept faith with Littlejohn despite her paucity of gametime at club level. In fact, she stayed loyal to the same side that started the first leg, by a distance the high point of her nine-match reign.
As McCabe noted, the significance of that result could only be measured in the context of the overall tie.
Ireland brought a cushion to protect and for the opening half hour they shaded proceedings, creating the better of the few chances produced.
Blending the right to be patient with exploiting Belgium’s defensive deficiencies was a dilemma Ireland succeeded in balancing during that opening period.
Set-pieces will always be depended on, especially with a specialist in McCabe delivering them, and within three minutes, Ireland ought to have capitalised on one of the Arsenal supremo’s assists.
Her inswinging free-kick bypassed the red line to the back post, where both Jessie Stapleton and Caitlin Hayes were awaiting. Somehow, the latter only glanced, rather than power, the free header and it strayed wide.
McCabe was the source of another opening conjured on 21 minutes, this from their first corner of the night.
It was clear from Friday how susceptible Nicky Evrard in the Belgian goal was to crosses.
Twice she flapped at the ball in the air, allowing Aoife Mannion to execute a volley from eight yards. Evrard could only parry that too but behind her was Jarne Teulings to boot clear.
Feyenoord flyer Teulings was central to Belgium’s ploy of curbing the influence of Denise O’Sullivan.
Whereas the expectation was that McCabe would be targeted for special attention, the Cork woman could rarely break free without being floored.
Teulings deservedly went into the book of Stephanie Frappart midway through the first half.
It would only be later that McCabe was the victim, surprisingly, by Wullaert, which earned the fellow centurion a yellow card.
So far, so steady for Ireland by that point, raising questions as to the need for a strategic goalkeeping injury on the half hour to engineer a sideline huddle.
It’s a wonder what was preached by the staff because it marked the turning point, with Belgium taking control for the remainder of the half.
Grace Moloney in the Ireland goal hadn’t been troubled before a succession of passing ended with her being beaten on 33 minutes.
Wing-play from the formation overhaul clicked, as Laura Deloose and Teulings combined on the left to leave Ireland floundering.
Once Teulings spotted Wullaert unmarked at the far post, her cross enabled the veteran to slide her first-time shot back across goal into the bottom corner.
Similar to Friday, the breakthrough was the cue for a relatively small crowd of 7,038 to find their voice.
Moloney did her best to quell the noise by delaying her kick-off that invited a warning from the referee but the goalkeeper was badly caught out for the second goal.
She wasn’t the sole culprit. Hayes should have cleared Deloose’s through ball but the scuff, coupled with Moloney out of position behind the defender, alerted Wullaert to a possible lob.
That she did with aplomb, lifting her shot from 25 yards beyond the back-peddling Sunderland stopper, franking her 150th appearance for her country with a 97th goal.
Within the space of six minutes, Ireland’s buffer was obliterated.
Ward chose at the interval to shore up the midfield by replacing Littlejohn with Anna Patten, and it worked.
Instead of the Belgians committing runners in pursuit of a winner, Ireland carried the stronger threat in the final third.
Over a 14-minute blitz, they fashioned chances that saw Evrard atone for her earlier vulnerability.
She pushed Emily Murphy’s rising shot around the post, stooped low to deny Marissa Sheva and, most impressively, batted away a downward header from Hayes.
Yet it was Larkin’s introduction that presented a fresh dimension to the attack.
Her first sight of goal on 66 minutes was a clear one, only for her to skew her shot off target with just the goalkeeper to beat.
She wouldn’t miss the next chance, finishing after O'Sullivan's flicked header caused chaos in the Belgian box.
N Evrard; A Tysiak (K Missipo 67), S Kees, Z Mertens; J Janssens, J Cayman, J Vanhaevermaet, L Deloose; J Teulings (MA Toloba 84), M Detruyer; T Wullaert.
G Moloney; J Stapleton, C Hayes, C Mustaki; A Mannion, D O'Sullivan (L Quinn 90+1), R Littlejohn (A Patten 46), K McCabe; E Murphy (A Larkin 59), M Sheva; K Carusa.
Stéphanie Frappart (France).
7,038.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
