WOMEN’S TEAM WIN AWAY IN ALBANIA
The Irish women’s international team played away in Shkoder to Albania in the Women’s Nations League, League B Group B1 on Tuesday night last and came away with 1-0 victory that keeps them top of the league table and more importantly, following the result from Belfast that saw Northern Ireland and Hungary draw 2-2, the Republic of Ireland are now automatically promoted to Group 1.
Ireland started slowly, but gradually began to get on top and Denise O’Sullivan saw her effort cleared off the line after a scramble in the Albanian goal. Midway through the half a thunderstorm hit the area and all of a sudden the pitch became covered in water, the game became farcical with passes getting stopped in the water. How the referee managed to let the game continue is a mystery and the condition of the pitch definitely saved the Irish from going a goal down when one of their forwards easily got between the two Irish centre halves and with only keeper Courtney Brosnan to beat, the ball got stuck in the water and Louise Quinn was able to take the ball literally off the attackers toe and out for a corner kick. Half-time arrived and the referee decided to have a sixty minute break to allow the water be brushed off the pitch. Failing this the second half was to be played the following day.
The rain stopped, the pitch was cleared of water and the second half commenced. Ireland upped their performance in this half and the introduction of Izzy Atkinson for Abbie Larkin 15mins after the restart helped to add speed and width to their attacking flair. Atkinson’s arrival allowed McCabe push further up field to support centre forward Kyra Caruso and suddenly it was all out attack from the Irish girls. But some brilliant goalkeeping by the home keeper, Rexhepi, denied Ireland making the breakthrough along with some luck for the home girls and a few bad misses in front of goal by Ireland. We counted six corners in this half to the five in the first half for Ireland and wondered was this going to be one of those nights when the ball would not go into the net.
However with two minutes to play, Caruso received the ball just inside the area and pulled the ball back for O’Sullivan to score, with two other Irish players standing behind her ready to do likewise. There was relief all around on the pitch and in the dugout and the final two minutes and injury time was all about protecting the three points and when the Armenian referee blew her whistle, Ireland had achieved their goal at the start of the campaign, four wins, top of the table and when the result from Windsor Park came through that Northern Ireland and Hungary had drawn 2-2, Eileen Gleeson’s team were promoted with two games to play.
This was a good team performance and they were definitely the better team. On another day they probably could have scored more than the single goal, but two wins away from home regardless of how many goals they scored is no mean achievement for any international team.
As we wrote the Republic of Ireland are promoted to UEFA Nations League A and as well as securing games against top class European opposition, it also presents an increased chance to qualify for Euro 2025 through next year’s League A qualifying route.
Needless to say, following the game and during the past week, speculation has once again turned to the appointment of a senior coach/manager. Eileen Gleeson has taken on the position as interim coach until the end of the group and is not interested in applying for the position of head coach. The four group games played so far have shown a totally different approach from the last management; let us not forget this management brought the team to a World Cup for the very first time. The rumour mill was in full flow during the games and especially when the team came home from Australia that all was not well within the Irish camp. The failure of the FAI to give a new contract to Vera Pauw only added fuel to the flames and when the draw was made for the Nations Cup, Eileen Gleeson was asked to take charge for the opening two games, which Ireland won, playing a different style to what we had become accustomed to, attacking football and scoring goals and this has worked perfectly.
Following those two victories, Eileen Gleeson was asked to stay on as head coach/manager until the end of the campaign and she agreed. The FAI have said they will make a decision at the end of the group games in selecting a head coach/manager, but already there are voices requesting the FAI to encourage Eileen Gleeson to stay on in the position. History has shown the FAI making mistakes in the past with selecting managers for the Irish men’s teams. Let us hope they do not make another mistake with a manager for an excellent Irish women’s team. Time will tell!
The two final group games are at home to Hungary on 1st December and away to Northern Ireland at Windsor Park on 5th December.
The month of November is going to be a busy one for the FAI with a number of important internationals to take place. On Saturday, 18th November the Irish men’s team will play their final group game in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers when they travel to the Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam to play the Netherlands. Already out of contention, this is just about completing the group games for Ireland. Once again this campaign has been disappointing and in all probability it could be manager Stephen Kenny’s final game in charge. With just two wins from seven games played in the group - the two wins being against the bottom team, Gibraltar - this has been a dismal campaign, one of the worst and we have seen the Irish ranking of 34th in 2020 fall to 58th at present. This tells its own story.
On Tuesday, 21st November Ireland will play a friendly at the Aviva against New Zealand.
The Ireland U21 men’s team will play two group games in November in the UEFA U21 Championship 2023, starting with an away fixture on Friday, 17th November against Norway and then they have Italy as visitors to Turner’s Cross on Monday, 20th November, which will be the big game in the group. Tickets have gone on sale for this game.