Ireland lost 2-1 against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday and in the process, ended all hopes of an Irish debut at the Euros next summer.
After ending their first Euro qualifier against the Welsh team with a tie in Cardiff, the night shaped up to be an optimistic one for the Irish national team. However, the girls in green failed to materialise a victory that would have been an epic sequel to qualifying for the World Cup two years ago.
Ireland dominated possession over the first half and made several attempts on the Welsh net. Denise O’Suillvan hit the crossbar also.
With a 0-0 scoreline at halftime, anything seemed possible for the remainder of the game. However, minutes into the second half, Ireland’s hopes were crushed when a penalty was given away to Wales due to a handball by Anna Patten. It was then that Hannah Cain subsequently scored the first goal of the match.
Things worsened for Ireland when Carrie Jones, who had just been subbed on, kicked the ball into the Irish net past Courtney Brosnan, making it 2-0 to Wales.
Despite this, the hosts refused to back down. In the end, it was Patten who managed to score a goal for Ireland off the back of a corner from Katie McCabe and a failed clearance by Welsh keeper Olivia Clark.
Ireland huffed and puffed after their goal. Patten’s header was nodded off the line, and Megan Campbell caused chaos in the Welsh box with her long throws.
Wales then nearly made it 3-1, but Brosnan made a smart save to keep the tie alive with minutes to go.
However, Wales held on for the win to ensure they made it to the Euro finals for the first time ever at the expense of Eileen Gleeson’s Irish side.
After setting up an impressive goal in Cardiff last week, Ireland midfielder Ruesha Littlejohn spoke to RTE Sport about this unfortunate defeat.
“We’re devastated; the team’s devastated,” she said.
“We fell short tonight. credit to Wales, they took their chances. I thought we played well in the first half; we had a few good moments, but scoring in these big games, I thought you get punished, and we’ve been punished.”
Littlejohn went on to talk about what lies ahead for the Irish national team.
“That’s the journey we’re on now. I think it’s going to start with the young ones coming through; everyone’s going to get better in football.
“Yes, but no, we can be hard; we can be resilient; we put our bodies on the line; we’ve got Megan’s throw; we’ve got big girls that can win headers, but yeah, we need to do more; if we want to consistently go to these tournaments, we need to do more.”
Ireland’s next game will be against Türkiye in the Nations League on February 21st.