THE CHARTERED FLIGHT that left Dublin Airport on Monday morning was a far cry from Ireland’s last – and first – trek to Kazakhstan in 2009.
The 6,400km plane journey took about 10-and-a-half hours – with a fuel stop in Turkey – as Carla Ward’s side travelled to Astana for Friday’s opening 2027 World Cup play-off.
There are no direct flights publicly available for one of the longest away trips in Uefa competition.
It is not the first time the Irish women’s team have navigated this terrain. 17 years ago this month, the Girls In Green made a similarly arduous – but very different – journey to Central Asia.
Noel King’s side were globe-trotting for a unique 2011 World Cup qualifying double-header in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Katie Taylor's last Ireland game was against Kazakhstan. Neil Danton / INPHO
Neil Danton / INPHO / INPHO
First up was a four-hour flight from Dublin to Moscow, though some players went directly from their club bases. The opening game of the window was in Krasnoarmeysk – about two hours from the Russian capital – and they lost 3-0 to the group’s top seeds.
The flight from Moscow to Astana was roughly four hours, and an even longer bus journey followed to Taldykorgan.
Méabh de Búrca remembered “the bumpiest roads that I’ve ever been on” in a recent interview with RTÉ. Emma Byrne – now goalkeeping coach – detailed similar in a snippet from a 2009 column which resurfaced when Ireland drew Kazakhstan this time around.
“This was a whole new world for us. A five-hour trip on bumpy roads and no street lights. Some girls felt travel-sick the day after. Our chef was blocked from entering at the border.”
Indeed, ahead of the draw, de Búrca highlighted Kazakhstan as a team she wanted Ward’s Ireland to avoid despite them being the lowest-ranked possible opponents. (Begaim Kirgizbayeva’s minnows are 98th in the Fifa world rankings, 77 places below Ireland.)
The scars of 2009 remain.
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“It was a difficult one because it was a double-header away, just overall a long trip,” as de Búrca recalled on the Indo Sport podcast earlier this year.
“A different culture there, we had to have a lot of extra security, which was rare back then. In those times we weren’t allowed outside the hotel unless we had security with us.
“There was no phone service or internet, I was doing my master’s at the time, and I wasn’t able to access my email to send off an assignment. We had to walk to an internet café, and could only access a few websites. It seemed years away from what we knew at the time.
“The main pitch wasn’t available either in the capital at the time, they were renovating it as far as I remember so we had to take a long bus journey on rough country roads down to the pitch. And it was a difficult game, I remember we only got away with an odd-goal win.”
Cork’s Turner’s Cross played host to the first meeting of the sides, with a certain Stephanie Roche proving the super substitute. The then 20-year-old Raheny United striker scored the winner in the 87th minute as Ireland bounced back from a 2-0 opener defeat to eventual group winners Switzerland.
Fiona O’Sullivan had broken the deadlock just before half-time, before Yekaterina Krassyukova levelled matters with 64 minutes on the clock.
But King’s side – captained by Ciara Grant with Katie Taylor among the other recognisable names involved – dug deep to secure their first win of the campaign.
It was the first of two scrappy, physical games against Kazakhstan, who were ranked 59th at the time, 32 spots inferior to Ireland.
Republic of Ireland: Emma Byrne, Marie Curtin, Mary Therese McDonnell, Niamh Fahey, Yvonne Tracy, Sonya Hughes, Ciara Grant (captain), Jemma Connor, Aine O’Gorman, Fiona O’Sullivan, Stefanie Curtis.
Substitutes: Meabh de Burca, Diane Caldwell, Shannon McDonnell (Ciara Grant, 75 mins), Stephanie Roche (Stefanie Curtis, 77 mins), Lynn Bradley, Amanda Parkes, Kate Taylor (Sonya Hughes, 75 mins).
One month later, Ireland came from behind to complete the double over Kazakhstan after that gruelling trip to Taldykorgan.
They trailed after Mariya Yalova’s sixth-minute opener, before Roche – on her first competitive start – levelled matters in the 65th minute. There was another super sub here: Yvonne Treacy scored the winner five minutes later, as Ireland bounced back from their loss to Russia and secured maximum points against the Kazakhs.
“Getting the three points away from home is valuable in terms of our progress in the group,” said King afterwards.
“We came through a tough game against a strong Kazakhstan team, and it’s testament to the players’ professionalism that they concluded their most arduous ever away trip on a positive note.
“I was happy with how we dominated possession and pressurised them, but again, our inability to put away some clear-cut chances at this level could have cost us.”
Debutant Julie-Ann Russell caught the eye, while it proved to be Katie Taylor’s final game for Ireland as a legendary boxing career continued to unfold thereafter.
“The fact that a debutant, Julie-Ann Russell, came on to play a big part in our equaliser for Stephanie Roche, who was making her first senior start, highlights how much our team is in transition,” King added.
“That process will take time to gel but the pair of them, along with another newcomer today, Shannon McDonnell, more than held their own.”
Republic of Ireland: Emma Byrne, Mary Therese McDonnell, Niamh Fahey, Marie Curtin, Stefanie Curtis, Ciara Grant, Sonya Hughes, Aine O’Gorman, Kate Taylor, Shannon Marie McDonnell, Stephanie Roche.
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Substitutes: Yvonne Treacy for Curtis (19 mins), Julie-Ann Russell for Curtin (46 mins), Jemma Connor for Hughes (90 mins).
*****
Ireland’s 2011 World Cup qualifying dream fell short the following year. With just the group winners advancing to the play-offs, the Girls In Green finished third after another defeat to Switzerland and a draw with Russia, while they also beat Israel 3-0 twice.
After more close calls and near misses, their major tournament breakthrough arrived at Hampden Park in October 2022 when Ireland qualified for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Now, Carla Ward’s side are looking to reach back-to-back World Cup finals, facing Kazakhstan in the two-legged play-off semi-finals before an expected final against Belgium or Poland in late November and early December.
The trek to Kazakhstan could prove trickier than on paper, with Katie McCabe and Marissa Sheva suspended, and Denise O’Sullivan rested for the first leg on the artificial surface at Jetisu Stadium, ahead of the return tie in Cork - SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh this time around.
But the Girls in Green are widely backed to get the job done. A fully professional squad should easily overcome the League C part-timers, in very different circumstances to 2009.
Every box will be ticked, from the chartered flight and jet lag protocols to using LinkedIn connections to secure footage of the Kazakhs.
And there have been no issues with border control this time around, with both nutritionist Olivia Patel and chef Ryan Swift continuing to fuel the 2027 World Cup dream.
Kazakhstan v Ireland, 2027 World Cup play-off semi-final first leg – Friday 9 October, Jetisu Stadium, Astana, 12pm Irish time, RTÉ 2
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From Turner's Cross to Central Asia: Revisiting Ireland's last games against Kazakhstan in 2009
THE CHARTERED FLIGHT that left Dublin Airport on Monday morning was a far cry from Ireland’s last – and first – trek to Kazakhstan in 2009.
The 6,400km plane journey took about 10-and-a-half hours – with a fuel stop in Turkey – as Carla Ward’s side travelled to Astana for Friday’s opening 2027 World Cup play-off.
There are no direct flights publicly available for one of the longest away trips in Uefa competition.
It is not the first time the Irish women’s team have navigated this terrain. 17 years ago this month, the Girls In Green made a similarly arduous – but very different – journey to Central Asia.
Noel King’s side were globe-trotting for a unique 2011 World Cup qualifying double-header in Russia and Kazakhstan.
First up was a four-hour flight from Dublin to Moscow, though some players went directly from their club bases. The opening game of the window was in Krasnoarmeysk – about two hours from the Russian capital – and they lost 3-0 to the group’s top seeds.
The flight from Moscow to Astana was roughly four hours, and an even longer bus journey followed to Taldykorgan.
Méabh de Búrca remembered “the bumpiest roads that I’ve ever been on” in a recent interview with RTÉ. Emma Byrne – now goalkeeping coach – detailed similar in a snippet from a 2009 column which resurfaced when Ireland drew Kazakhstan this time around.
Indeed, ahead of the draw, de Búrca highlighted Kazakhstan as a team she wanted Ward’s Ireland to avoid despite them being the lowest-ranked possible opponents. (Begaim Kirgizbayeva’s minnows are 98th in the Fifa world rankings, 77 places below Ireland.)
The scars of 2009 remain.
“It was a difficult one because it was a double-header away, just overall a long trip,” as de Búrca recalled on the Indo Sport podcast earlier this year.
“A different culture there, we had to have a lot of extra security, which was rare back then. In those times we weren’t allowed outside the hotel unless we had security with us.
“There was no phone service or internet, I was doing my master’s at the time, and I wasn’t able to access my email to send off an assignment. We had to walk to an internet café, and could only access a few websites. It seemed years away from what we knew at the time.
“The main pitch wasn’t available either in the capital at the time, they were renovating it as far as I remember so we had to take a long bus journey on rough country roads down to the pitch. And it was a difficult game, I remember we only got away with an odd-goal win.”
*****
24 September 2009
Ireland 2-1 Kazakhstan, Turner’s Cross
Cork’s Turner’s Cross played host to the first meeting of the sides, with a certain Stephanie Roche proving the super substitute. The then 20-year-old Raheny United striker scored the winner in the 87th minute as Ireland bounced back from a 2-0 opener defeat to eventual group winners Switzerland.
Fiona O’Sullivan had broken the deadlock just before half-time, before Yekaterina Krassyukova levelled matters with 64 minutes on the clock.
But King’s side – captained by Ciara Grant with Katie Taylor among the other recognisable names involved – dug deep to secure their first win of the campaign.
It was the first of two scrappy, physical games against Kazakhstan, who were ranked 59th at the time, 32 spots inferior to Ireland.
Republic of Ireland: Emma Byrne, Marie Curtin, Mary Therese McDonnell, Niamh Fahey, Yvonne Tracy, Sonya Hughes, Ciara Grant (captain), Jemma Connor, Aine O’Gorman, Fiona O’Sullivan, Stefanie Curtis.
Substitutes: Meabh de Burca, Diane Caldwell, Shannon McDonnell (Ciara Grant, 75 mins), Stephanie Roche (Stefanie Curtis, 77 mins), Lynn Bradley, Amanda Parkes, Kate Taylor (Sonya Hughes, 75 mins).
*****
29 October 2009
Kazakhstan 1-2 Ireland, Zhetysu Stadium, Taldykorgan
One month later, Ireland came from behind to complete the double over Kazakhstan after that gruelling trip to Taldykorgan.
They trailed after Mariya Yalova’s sixth-minute opener, before Roche – on her first competitive start – levelled matters in the 65th minute. There was another super sub here: Yvonne Treacy scored the winner five minutes later, as Ireland bounced back from their loss to Russia and secured maximum points against the Kazakhs.
“Getting the three points away from home is valuable in terms of our progress in the group,” said King afterwards.
“We came through a tough game against a strong Kazakhstan team, and it’s testament to the players’ professionalism that they concluded their most arduous ever away trip on a positive note.
“I was happy with how we dominated possession and pressurised them, but again, our inability to put away some clear-cut chances at this level could have cost us.”
Debutant Julie-Ann Russell caught the eye, while it proved to be Katie Taylor’s final game for Ireland as a legendary boxing career continued to unfold thereafter.
“The fact that a debutant, Julie-Ann Russell, came on to play a big part in our equaliser for Stephanie Roche, who was making her first senior start, highlights how much our team is in transition,” King added.
“That process will take time to gel but the pair of them, along with another newcomer today, Shannon McDonnell, more than held their own.”
Republic of Ireland: Emma Byrne, Mary Therese McDonnell, Niamh Fahey, Marie Curtin, Stefanie Curtis, Ciara Grant, Sonya Hughes, Aine O’Gorman, Kate Taylor, Shannon Marie McDonnell, Stephanie Roche.
Substitutes: Yvonne Treacy for Curtis (19 mins), Julie-Ann Russell for Curtin (46 mins), Jemma Connor for Hughes (90 mins).
*****
Ireland’s 2011 World Cup qualifying dream fell short the following year. With just the group winners advancing to the play-offs, the Girls In Green finished third after another defeat to Switzerland and a draw with Russia, while they also beat Israel 3-0 twice.
After more close calls and near misses, their major tournament breakthrough arrived at Hampden Park in October 2022 when Ireland qualified for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Now, Carla Ward’s side are looking to reach back-to-back World Cup finals, facing Kazakhstan in the two-legged play-off semi-finals before an expected final against Belgium or Poland in late November and early December.
The trek to Kazakhstan could prove trickier than on paper, with Katie McCabe and Marissa Sheva suspended, and Denise O’Sullivan rested for the first leg on the artificial surface at Jetisu Stadium, ahead of the return tie in Cork - SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh this time around.
But the Girls in Green are widely backed to get the job done. A fully professional squad should easily overcome the League C part-timers, in very different circumstances to 2009.
Every box will be ticked, from the chartered flight and jet lag protocols to using LinkedIn connections to secure footage of the Kazakhs.
And there have been no issues with border control this time around, with both nutritionist Olivia Patel and chef Ryan Swift continuing to fuel the 2027 World Cup dream.
Kazakhstan v Ireland, 2027 World Cup play-off semi-final first leg – Friday 9 October, Jetisu Stadium, Astana, 12pm Irish time, RTÉ 2
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