Ireland smooth path to Brazil World Cup by completing double over Poland
GOAL-LAND: Marissa Sheva celebrates with team-mates after scoring the winner. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
One goal was enough for Ireland to ensure they remain poles apart from their closest rivals for third spot in the World Cup qualifying campaign.
After deservedly prevailing 3-2 in Tuesday’s first game, Carla Ward’s side made it back-to-back wins in front of 18,267 at Lansdowne Road through Marissa Sheva’s close-range finish three minutes before the break.
Swelling their advantage to five points with June’s final double-header makes it almost certain Ireland will have a favourable route to next year’s World Cup in the playoffs that begin in October.
For them to return to where they started the week at the foot of the table, Poland must beat both France and Netherlands, while also Ireland fail to take a point off the same two sides over the final window.
Ireland’s path to Brazil becomes that much clearer.
Third place means a semi-final meeting in October with one of Lithuania, Kosovo, Hungary or Greece from League C, based on current standings.
Facile 4-0 away triumphs over the latter two in recent years entitled Ireland to be confident of hurling that stage.
Should they do so, the only League A teams they can meet are Serbia, Ukraine, Austria and, potentially Poland, again. They won’t have any fears on the evidence of the last five days.
This was Ireland’s first clean sheet for nine matches, stretching back to last June’s 1-0 win over Slovenia at Pairc Uí Chaoimh but they’ll return to the Cork venue on June 5 for the visit of Netherlands without two of their stars.
There’ll be no Leeside homecoming for Denise O’Sullivan after a harsh second yellow card in the first half but Emily Murphy can have no complaints for unnecessarily dragging back Paulina Dudek with 18 minutes left.
Both players rattled the crossbar on an afternoon ought to have won by a larger margin.
Yet they will be glad VAR wasn’t in place. Whereas it led to Wales forging ahead in the Euro playoff defeat at the same venue 17 months ago, there was no second opinion for a penalty when substitute Weronika Zawistowska was clearly caught on the knee by Aoife Mannion’s mistimed tackle.
Otherwise, Ireland generally kept the Polish quiet, only twice allowing Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor glimpses at goal in either half. Both she uncharacteristically squandered, the first by flashing a shot wide on 14 and the second by snatching at the loose ball with two minutes left.
There was no swashbuckling first half display from Gdansk that yielded two first half goals but Ireland shaded the chance count without enjoying the control Card Ward claimed her team exerted.
US-born midfielder Sheva fired in what transpired to be the winner on Tuesday and this was a different finish, ghosting in behind Wiktoria Zieniewicz to slide in and sweep home Kyra Carusa’s inviting low cross.
Another enterprising piece of play earlier from Carusa, back in the team after illness, carved out the opportunity for Murphy to convert from close range but she clattered the underside of the crossbar.
Then came the setback for O’Sullivan, who didn’t allow it to dim a display that won her Player of the Match.
Similar to Tuesday’s booking, this was dished out following a midfield tussle that looked fair and certainly beneath the threshold for a caution by the Slovenia referee Aleksandra Česen.
She continued to probe after the break, flicking the ball over the head of her marker on 56 minutes to gain a clear sight on goal. Rather than square, she opted to shoot and the ball smashed off the crossbar.
Bar the penalty incident, the other scare for Ireland was goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan crumpling on the ground following an aerial challenge by Dudek. She was fine to continue and the break disrupted any rhythm the visitors tried to generate without success.
C Brosnan; A Patten, C Hayes, C Mustaki; A Mannion, M Connolly, D O’Sullivan, K McCabe; M Sheva, E Murphy; K Carusa (A Larkin 72).
K Szemik; W Zieniewicz, O Wos, P Dudek, M Wiankowska; E Kamczyk (P Sarapata 80), T Pawollek, A Achcinska (G Grzybowska 46); P Tomasiak, E Pajor, N Krezyman (W Zawistowska 65).
Aleksandra Česen (SVN).
18,267.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
