THE NEW ERA is well underway for the Republic of Ireland women’s national team.
Life after Vera Pauw began with an historic 3-0 win over Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
A record crowd of 35,944 watched the Uefa Nations League opener and the first Irish women’s football international at Lansdowne Road.
Lucy Quinn, Kyra Carusa and Lily Agg — three recruits under Pauw — bagged the goals as the hosts turned on the style in their first competitive win in 2023. Their only other victory came in the World Cup send-off game against Zambia.
Albeit mostly against higher-ranked opposition, Ireland have lost five and drawn two of their nine matches this year.
They’ve scored seven goals and conceded 11. Just one goal has come from open play, with the others directly from, or off the back of, set-pieces.
They’ve always been a strength of this team, and will prove to be more and more with the addition of aerial threat Caitlin Hayes. The English-born defender slotted straight into the XI for her debut on Saturday, joining Louise Quinn and Diane Caldwell in the back three.
While Pauw played three centre-halves, they made up a back five as she predominantly played 5-4-1. Interim head coach Eileen Gleeson deployed more of a 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2, with Quinn playing off Carusa up top and an advanced Denise O’Sullivan behind them. The returning Tyler Toland and Megan Connolly patrolled the middle, with Katie McCabe and Heather Payne the wide players and unrivalled number one Courtney Brosnan in goal.
“Happy overall,” Gleeson said of the more front-footed system afterwards. “We only introduced it so it will bed in more as we go on, but given that we have only had a week, the girls reacted well to the changes.
“[O'Sullivan] gives us that outlet. It’s difficult for the opposition to pick her up, she is skilful, she is creative. We gave her two forwards then that she can use them and we had a bit more depth for the wing backs, so she could push forward a bit more.
“You want to get numbers forward and at the same time, want to retain some balance. And that is what we worked on all week. Given the type of players that we have, especially our wide players, we need to get them on the ball. That allows for that, gives you two forwards which is always nice. And we are adaptable if we want to change it.”
The early exchanges were cagey, and often sloppy, but Ireland grew into the game and turned good in possession. New and returning faces Hayes and Toland caught the eye in that regard, as well as the ever-present McCabe and O’Sullivan.
Quinn broke the deadlock — and etched her name into history as the first Irish women’s goalscorer at the Aviva Stadium — on the half-hour mark. The Birmingham City attacker’s sweet strike from the edge of the box came after a McCabe corner.
The game sparked to life from there, with Ireland assuming complete control, and they could have been further ahead but for some last-ditch defending. There was none of that, however, as Carusa capitalised on a mix-up between Sophie Turner and Rebecca Holloway to slot home in the 70th minute. This was the sole open play goal in 2023.
And having been involved in the second, McCabe also assisted the third as substitute Agg got her head on another corner. Abbie Larkin, Amber Barrett, Izzy Atkinson also featured off the bench amidst a positive start to the new campaign.
“Abbie, Izzy coming on, prepared to get on the ball, run on it, link it,” said Gleeson, who is the FAI’s Head of Women’s and Girls Football.
“We’re seeing younger players coming through who want to be on the ball and we want to develop those players more, we want to be Irish footballers that are comfortable on the ball, physically competent and athletically smart. That’s what we’re driving right through our underage clubs, pathways and how we develop those players. It’s all integrated.
“We’re getting a glimpse of it now, we’ll continue to build on that and keep driving forward. The legacy today is increased participation, increased visibility and that’s what we need to keep pushing forward and keep developing those players.”
It was straight to Dublin Airport after the game on Saturday, destination Budapest thereafter for tomorrow’s clash against Hungary at Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium [KO 6.30pm Irish time, live on RTÉ 2].
All 26 players travelled, with no injury issues reported by the FAI despite a “muscular knock” to O’Sullivan late on. Louise Quinn is also good to go after slight concern.
Sunday was a recovery day, today is pre-match training and press, before showtime tomorrow night. Again, Ireland are heavy favourites. Hungary are ranked significantly lower (42nd v 24th) and were held to a 1-1 draw by minnows Albania last week.
Onwards, with Gleeson not drawn into talk about leaving the Vera Pauw era behind.
“I am not even talking about anything like that. All we are focusing on, all we are doing, is moving forward. Of course, everyone who has come before has built us to where we are, so we are defensively solid and that didn’t magically happen. This is a new day forward, we respect everyone that has been involved in this journey and we continue to move.
“Tuesday will be tough, we are going into another nation that will be well-organised, so we are expecting a tough test.”
