INTERIM REPUBLIC OF Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson has hailed her side for coming through “a chaotic night” and securing the win needed to clinch promotion to League A of the Uefa Women’s Nations League.
Denise O’Sullivan’s 88th-minute winner settled a bizarre game of two halves in Albania, with the action suspended at the break for well over an hour amidst adverse weather conditions.
While not entirely conducive to playing football, it was a sub-par performance against the group minnows, but it was a fourth win from four in Group B1.
And the result, paired with Northern Ireland and Hungary’s 1-1 draw, secured top spot with two games to go.
The RTÉ TV interviews took place before full-time in Belfast, but the main topic of conversation was understandably the conditions.
“It was absolute chaos,” Gleeson told reporter Dave Kelly.
“You couldn’t run, you couldn’t dribble, you couldn’t pass. It was really tough for both teams and for the game of football. Somehow we managed to make a return for the second half, and thankfully got the three points.
“It was a tough night. Credit to the girls, they ground it out and we came away with three points.”
Asked whether she thought the players should have been taken off before half time as a thunderstorm played havoc, the double-jobbing FAI Head of Women’s and Girls Football said:
“Yeah. I mean during that first half I didn’t think it was safe conditions for players, could have easily had an injury on either side and it was really difficult. Somehow they managed to sweep the pitch, it was okay in the second half and we got the job done.
“We were just concerned that the pitch wouldn’t be playable, that we wouldn’t be able to move the ball. That was the main concern.”
“Nobody here thinks it was a good performance or would even pretend to think so,” she added. “It was grit and going until the end. It was a chaotic night between the weather, the pitch and the delay. Credit to the girls that they were able to adapt to that and come away with three points.”
O’Sullivan, who scored her 20th international goal on her 109th cap, similarly thought that the game got to a stage where it might not be completed.
“Yeah, during it,” the Cork midfielder explained. “When it was getting stuck under my feet. We were just playing in a monsoon in puddles. I think we just had to get through it at that point, it was just a mentality.
“It was really difficult. Once that torrential rain came, it was kinda unplayable. We knew we might have to come back out again, so we went in and we stayed focused, and we came out and we went until the very end. I’m glad we’re coming away with the three points.”
Kyra Carusa and Izzy Atkinson also shared their thoughts with RTÉ on a bizarre Halloween Night in Shkodër.
“Physically demanding… mentally the most demanding,” Carusa, who played the full game, said.
“Pretty wild, probably the most wild game I’ve ever been a part of in terms of weather. The first half wasn’t even playable: protecting yourself, the tackles were getting wild, you couldn’t control anything that was happening.
“But wow, what a testament to the grit and how deep this team is, to pull out a very important win on the road.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it, to be honest. Oh my God,” half-time substitute Atkinson admitted.
“I don’t know how they got it played. We were just ready to go, hoping it was going to be played. I don’t think we thought it was going to be played, though. It was. We were just happy to get back out.”
