A new manager, lots of goals conceded but there are positive signs for NI women after a rollercoaster 2023
Megan Bell is surrounded by her Northern Ireland team-mates after finding the net during the 4-0 victory in Albania
The final whistle at Windsor Park on Tuesday evening signalled more than just the end of Northern Ireland’s heavy defeat by the Republic of Ireland.
The 6-1 defeat coming just days after a 4-0 win in Albania perfectly summed up what has been a rollercoaster 2023 for the national team.
Here, we take a look at 2023 and the lessons that can and must be learned in the years ahead.
WHAT WENT WRONG
The IFA took too long to appoint a manager.
For six and a half months of 2023, Northern Ireland were without a manager and, therefore, also had no leadership and no idea of their future direction after Kenny Shiels and the Irish FA parted company at the end of January.
The interim appointments of Andy Waterworth (v Wales) and Gail Redmond (v Scotland and the Czech Republic) only kept things ticking over – Redmond after a preferred candidate took another job.
Tanya Oxtoby has said that she would have preferred to have had friendlies before going into Nations League action and stated after Tuesday’s defeat to the Republic of Ireland that her team is ‘two or three years behind’. That six months and three matches of lost opportunity is a spell that can’t be recovered.
Northern Ireland’s Kerry Beattie celebrates her consolation goal against the Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park
Quick-fire goals still happening
After conceding three goals in 14 minutes in Wales and another three inside just six minutes against Scotland, it looked like Tanya Oxtoby had found the remedy to Northern Ireland’s worrying habit of letting in goals in quick bursts.
That was until Tuesday night’s game against the Republic of Ireland. After
Read on belfasttelegraph.co.uk
