Lily Woodham put the hosts in front in the 20th minute, before Littlejohn beat Olivia Clark from long range to restore parity.
“I need to watch it back,” the ever-entertaining Littlejohn said post-match. “I remember the ball coming and think I’m just going to hit it. Obviously it’s a bit of a floater and I don’t know what happened, it hit off her and the bar?
“But some nights you need that bit of luck so we’ll take it. It just sat up nicely and we’re encouraged to shoot on goal if we get a sight. It was an instinctive moment, that’s it, take it.”
As it hit the net, Littlejohn put her hand to her mouth, jokingly shocked but still somewhat in disbelief. The midfielder thought she had scored her first international goal since 2016.
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“Just shock, shell-shock. It’s been seven years. It’s been taken off me but it doesn’t matter.
“Maybe I’m thinking get me back up front, used to be a number nine back in the day!”
The London City Lionesses midfielder was Ireland’s standout player as she returned to the XI. The 34-year-old has been hampered by Achilles issues of late, her training load managed so much so that parallels are drawn with Paul McGrath. She just recently made her first club appearance of the season, and her minutes have been limited.
“It’s nice to be back in. I think I’m old enough and experienced enough to come back in. I know what it’s all about.
“I played 35 or 40 minutes at the weekend there and then I played 15 or 20 minutes two weeks before that. I’ve been training for the month so I’m alright, I didn’t play the other week for unforeseen circumstances. Look I’m 34, I’ve been around the block and I can shift.
“I just need to manage myself. Just managing it, stay on top of it, I can’t train every session, that’s the way it is, I need to train the main sessions and rest and recover.”
She was pleased with 78 minutes tonight. “I thought, ‘Oh jeez look at me going!’
Katie McCabe applauds the Irish fans after the game. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“In fairness the first 10 minutes flew by and I don’t think I kicked the ball. I was going, ‘Right, I need to get into this game.’ You get games like that and you just grow into the game.’”
The Glasgow-born star dictated play around the middle on a quieter night for Denise O’Sullivan, and was combative in the second half with some big tackles and argy-bargy. She saw yellow for a stray elbow and fiery exchange with Jess Fishlock.
“It’s handbags to me. It makes it more exciting, the game has gone soft, in the men’s game you can’t get away with any of that now, look it happens in a game, as long as we keep our heads and stick to the task, it’s alright.”
Littlejohn, who watched Ireland qualify for their first World Cup from the stands in Hampden Park due to injury, believes this play-off is wide open ahead of Tuesday’s return leg at the Aviva Stadium. The winner progresses to their first European Championships.
“I think both teams will be happy with the draw. Safe to say, it wouldn’t have been a great game to watch on the telly, one of those games. It was a bit scrappy, it was always going to be a bit tense. And now it’s on to Tuesday and that will be a massive game, on our home patch and hopefully we can control the game a bit better.
“It’s just believing that we’ve got the ability to control the game. We’ve got the players to keep the ball in play, keep ticking over and we’ve got the players higher up the pitch, getting Denise up the pitch, getting JAR [Julie-Ann Russell] in behind, we’ve got a really strong squad right now and people are chomping at the bit to get on at make a difference,
“I think we’ve got to believe in us, Eileen [Gleeson] said that, it’s a 23-man squad and we know what we can do. It’s just play the game and not the occasion.”
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'Some nights you need that bit of luck' - Littlejohn steps up as Ireland's hero in Cardiff
“THEY’VE TAKEN IT off me… shambles!”
Although it went down as an own goal, Ruesha Littlejohn was Ireland’s unlikely hero as they came from behind to draw 1-1 in the first leg of their Euro 2025 play-off final with Wales.
Lily Woodham put the hosts in front in the 20th minute, before Littlejohn beat Olivia Clark from long range to restore parity.
“I need to watch it back,” the ever-entertaining Littlejohn said post-match. “I remember the ball coming and think I’m just going to hit it. Obviously it’s a bit of a floater and I don’t know what happened, it hit off her and the bar?
“But some nights you need that bit of luck so we’ll take it. It just sat up nicely and we’re encouraged to shoot on goal if we get a sight. It was an instinctive moment, that’s it, take it.”
As it hit the net, Littlejohn put her hand to her mouth, jokingly shocked but still somewhat in disbelief. The midfielder thought she had scored her first international goal since 2016.
“Just shock, shell-shock. It’s been seven years. It’s been taken off me but it doesn’t matter.
“Maybe I’m thinking get me back up front, used to be a number nine back in the day!”
The London City Lionesses midfielder was Ireland’s standout player as she returned to the XI. The 34-year-old has been hampered by Achilles issues of late, her training load managed so much so that parallels are drawn with Paul McGrath. She just recently made her first club appearance of the season, and her minutes have been limited.
“It’s nice to be back in. I think I’m old enough and experienced enough to come back in. I know what it’s all about.
“I played 35 or 40 minutes at the weekend there and then I played 15 or 20 minutes two weeks before that. I’ve been training for the month so I’m alright, I didn’t play the other week for unforeseen circumstances. Look I’m 34, I’ve been around the block and I can shift.
“I just need to manage myself. Just managing it, stay on top of it, I can’t train every session, that’s the way it is, I need to train the main sessions and rest and recover.”
She was pleased with 78 minutes tonight. “I thought, ‘Oh jeez look at me going!’
“In fairness the first 10 minutes flew by and I don’t think I kicked the ball. I was going, ‘Right, I need to get into this game.’ You get games like that and you just grow into the game.’”
The Glasgow-born star dictated play around the middle on a quieter night for Denise O’Sullivan, and was combative in the second half with some big tackles and argy-bargy. She saw yellow for a stray elbow and fiery exchange with Jess Fishlock.
“It’s handbags to me. It makes it more exciting, the game has gone soft, in the men’s game you can’t get away with any of that now, look it happens in a game, as long as we keep our heads and stick to the task, it’s alright.”
Littlejohn, who watched Ireland qualify for their first World Cup from the stands in Hampden Park due to injury, believes this play-off is wide open ahead of Tuesday’s return leg at the Aviva Stadium. The winner progresses to their first European Championships.
“I think both teams will be happy with the draw. Safe to say, it wouldn’t have been a great game to watch on the telly, one of those games. It was a bit scrappy, it was always going to be a bit tense. And now it’s on to Tuesday and that will be a massive game, on our home patch and hopefully we can control the game a bit better.
“It’s just believing that we’ve got the ability to control the game. We’ve got the players to keep the ball in play, keep ticking over and we’ve got the players higher up the pitch, getting Denise up the pitch, getting JAR [Julie-Ann Russell] in behind, we’ve got a really strong squad right now and people are chomping at the bit to get on at make a difference,
“I think we’ve got to believe in us, Eileen [Gleeson] said that, it’s a 23-man squad and we know what we can do. It’s just play the game and not the occasion.”
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