WHILE IRELAND BOOKED their Euro 2025 play-off final ticket with a straightforward dismissal of Georgia, their opponents faced a fair deal of drama.

Wales came from behind to overcome Slovakia and keep their dream of reaching their first major tournament alive. They now stand in Ireland’s way of a maiden European Championships after last year’s World Cup debut.

Wales trailed 2-1 after a shock first-leg defeat in Poprad. An 89th minute goal from substitute Ffion Morgan was crucial on a hugely disappointing night against a team ranked 22 places lower in the Fifa World Rankings.

Manager Rhian Wilkinson backed the Dragons to bounce back from their “worst performance” at Cardiff City Stadium, and they did — with a 2-0 win after extra-time.

Jess Fishlock levelled the aggregate scoreline with a brilliant chipped finish in the 38th minute. Wales’ all-time leading goalscorer and record caps holder came off the bench to assist Morgan on Friday, but she played the full game here after a recent injury.

The Seattle Reign star saw two goals disallowed for offside and other chances went a-begging, before extra-time was required to separate the sides. Ceri Holland proved the goalscoring hero in the 112th minute after a lengthy VAR check.

The goal stands!

VAR decides that there was no reason to rule out Ceri Holland's strike ⚽

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales (3) 2-0 (2) Slovakia 🇸🇰

Watch live on BBC One Wales and @BBCiPlayer 📺

Listen live on @BBCRadioWales and @BBCRadioCymru 📻#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/pi6Pg6xzP8

— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) October 29, 2024

“I think I’ve just scored the most important goal of my career,” the Liverpool striker told BBC Wales afterwards.

“It’s everybody’s dream in this group to make a major tournament for our country. We’re on the cusp of it now but there’s still loads of work to do in December, and we’ll be ready for that.”

The Irish soundbites in the Tallaght Stadium mixed zone were similar, as news of the other result filtered through.

“Wales next month,” Eileen Gleeson began. “Exciting, similar profile to ourselves in terms of the make-up of the team, the level the players play at, a big games coming up.”

Ireland will be slight favourites going into the double-header on 29 November and 3 December — the second game is at the Aviva Stadium — given their recent League A status and five-place superiority in the Fifa World Rankings (24th and 29th).

But Wales were 2-0 winners in a February friendly at Tallaght Stadium. Fishlock and Lily Woodham scored early goals as the Dragons inflicted the first defeat of the Gleeson era.

“Redemption,” the Irish head coach smiled.

Fishlock starred in their last game of the interim reign before Wilkinson took charge, with Crystal Palace’s Elise Hughes and Southampton’s Rachel Rowe also lively in Dublin 24. Chelsea midfielder Sophie Ingle was solid, but she is now sidelined with an ACL injury.

Ireland experimented with players and formations, and have strengthened since.

“I think they are the same team that we played them last, we’ll be a different team than when we played them last,” Gleeson continued. 

“Came in on the back on playing against Italy, we’d players missing, we played a different starting XI, it was a learning experience. We’re positive, I think it will be very tight and we’re very excited about it.

“I would say they are a similar level to ourselves, good forwards, [Jess] Fishlock, good midfielders like [Ceri] Holland, same as us, culturally very passionate. It will be a really good battle.”

Jess Fishlock (10) celebrating her goal in Tallaght in February. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

Denise O’Sullivan missed that “off night” through injury, but she scored the only goal of the game as Ireland won another recent meeting at the 2022 Pinatar Cup. There is no shortage of familiarity between the sides, from international game to club links.

Wearing an Olivia O’Toole #11 Ireland jersey from 2007 after a post-match swap, the midfield maestro echoed some of her manager’s sentiments. 

“Wales are a very good team. They’re very organised, physical — it’s definitely going to be a battle. They have some good individual players as well, we know them quite well.

“It’s a cup final, anything can happen so we’re going to have to come in all guns blazing. The main thing is to get to the Euros.”

Julie-Ann Russell also spoke about the challenge ahead, their next opponents topping their League B qualifying group after four wins and two draws (to Ireland’s old foes Ukraine).

“Wales are decent,” the in-form Galway United star said. “They’re a good team. They’re probably similar to us. A lot of the girls have played against them in the WSL.

“Hopefully we can get a massive crowd at the Aviva, and similarly in Wales, it’s not that far away, hopefully we will get a good travelling crowd.”

Interestingly, Ireland and Wales played their first-ever international game against each other in 1973.

Now, they go head-to-head for a ticket to their first European Championships.

Another Celtic clash evokes memories of the historic World Cup play-off win over Scotland at Hampden Park two years ago.

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Euro 2025 qualified teams

Hosts: Switzerland

League A winners: Germany, Spain, Italy, France.

League A runners-up: Iceland, Denmark, Netherlands, England.

Play-off finals (Friday 29 November and Tuesday 3 December)

• Poland v Austria
• Scotland v Finland
• Ukraine v Belgium
• Wales v Republic of Ireland
• Portugal v Czech Republic
• Northern Ireland v Norway
• Serbia v Sweden.