France 1
Republic of Ireland 0
IRELAND WILL GRIT their teeth and compete in this group of death, but tonight they left Metz with nothing but a stiffened resolve for the tests to come.
The only goal of the game was annoyingly soft, and at odds with the Irish performance to come: Marie-Antoinette Katoto’s unmarked, one-yard tap-in after only five minutes was too easy a goal to give away to the third-ranked side in the world. But while Ireland were second-best from there and had to rely on Courtney Brosnan at times, they were rarely ever under siege, and had Leanne Kiernan not wasted a late opportunity to set up Katie McCabe, Ireland would be travelling home with another famous 1-1 draw in the books.
If Eileen Gleeson was brought in to add a few frills to the dowdy efficiency of Vera Pauw’s team, then the draw put paid to those ambitions. Starting the campaign away to France meant Gleeson wasn’t here to provide the pièce de résistance: she was here to lead another resistance.
Anna Patten’s recruitment in the build-up to this game foretold the game-plan here: find as many centre-backs as possible and get them out there. Patten was one of five centre-backs appearing on the Irish team-sheet: she played alongside Caitlin Hayes and Louise Quinn in a back three, with Aoife Mannion shuffled out to left wing-back and Megan Connolly playing in midfield. Heather Payne was at right wing-back, which at least achieved what Pauw often couldn’t in these games: it pushed Katie McCabe further up the pitch.
How dispiriting, then, that Ireland conceded so early and so meekly. Heather Payne conceded a cheap free-kick in just the fifth minute, which was then flighted to the back post, where Maelle Lakrar rose to head the ball across the box for an unmarked Marie-Antoinette Katoto to tap in from a yard out. It was a maddeningly generous means of conceding to a team capable of making riches from meagre rations.
Payne endured a torrid start, as Ireland’s right flank was sliced open at will by Delphine Cascarino and Sakina Karchaoui. Courtney Brosnan took the Brian Maher-patented means of earning her side a breather, stooping to the turf with a phantom injury as her team-mates sprinted to the touchline for instructions. She continued to do her best to sap all momentum from the game with displays of timewasting so prodigious it drew jeers from the Metz crowd.
But Ireland clung doggedly on while France settled into a casual kind of supremacy. Brosnan did brilliantly to tip over a fierce drive by Sandie Toletti, while Grace Geyoro should have done much better than hook the ball well wide after France switched tact and opened up Ireland down their left.
Ireland offered little going the other way, and they undermined their own few openings: Denise O’Sullivan was the guiltiest party in first-half stoppage time, when she robbed Lakrar of possession but then wasted the opportunity by overcooking her pass through for Kyra Carusa.
Megan Campbell was introduced at half-time and sent to play at left wing-back, with Mannion swapping across to try and lock down Cascarino on the opposite flank.
As it happens, Herve Renard withdrew Cascarino – recently returned from an ACL rupture – on the hour mark, introducing Vicki Becho and record goalscorer Eugénie Le Sommer. Within a minute, Le Sommer served Ireland notice by heading Geyoro’s cross onto the crossbar. Gleeson, meanwhile, introduced Amber Barrett and Leanne Kiernan to give Ireland fresh impetus on the counter-attack. In Barrett’s case that impetus lasted all of 10 minutes: she was withdrawn, injured while trying to hurtle beyond Karchaoui.
Captain Wendie Renard was introduced to delirious screams in the game’s final quarter: she is on the road back from injury too, so perhaps she was brought on for some rhythm ahead of next week’s game against Sweden. Or, perhaps, she was introduced to ensure France didn’t fritter away their win.
Because Ireland grew in confidence as the game wore on, and wasted a glorious opportunity to equalise with three minutes remaining. First McCabe chased down Renard and then the French goalkeeper, whose rushed clearance was intercepted by Lucy Quinn and nodded forward for Leanne Kiernan.
But with McCabe utterly unmarked in the penalty area, Kiernan thumped a cross high across the box to nobody. McCabe sank to her knees and pounded the turf with her fist.
Ireland kept up the pressure, with Campbell slinging long throws into the French penalty area, with Renard climbing to the skies and justifying her cameo.
Brosnan was needed to keep Ireland within punching distance in five minutes stoppage time, parrying well from substitute Sandy Baltimore, after she did her best Gazza-at-Euro-96-style touch and volley in the penalty area.
The Irish mood may be summed up by McCabe’s late thump of the grass in front of goal, and for Ireland to be travelling home frustrated is not nothing.
Next up, England.
France: Pauline Peyraud-Magnin; Ève Périsset (Wendie Renard, 77′), Griedge Mbock Bathy, Maëlle Lakrar, Sakina Karchaoui; Kadidiatou Diani, Grace Geyoro, Sandie Toletti (Amandine Henry, 77′), Kenza Dali (Sandy Baltiore, 83′); Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Eugénie Le Sommer, 61′), Delphine Cascarino (Vicki Becho, 61′)
Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Heather Payne (Leanne Kiernan, 62′); Caitlin Hayes, Louise Quinn, Anna Patten; Aoife Mannion (Jess Stapleton, 89′); Megan Connolly, Denise O’Sullivan; Emily Murphy (Megan Campbell, HT), Katie McCabe (captain); Kyra Carusa (Amber Barrett, 62′) (Lucy Quinn, 72;)
Referee: Maria Caputi (Italy)
Attendance: 16,772
