Ireland begin post-Pauw era with comfortable 3-0 win over North
Women's Nations League
Ireland 3 Northern Ireland 0
An historic day was crowned by a professional Ireland performance, as early lethargy eased to begin the Nations League campaign with the routine win.
Northern Ireland included five home-based players in their team, whereas Ireland didn’t use any among their 16 participants, illustrating the gulf in levels of conditioning.
Once Ireland forged ahead through Lucy Quinn’s volley on the half hour, the outcome was never in doubt. Kyra Carusa’s third international goal with 20 minutes left and a third with Lily Agg’s first touch after coming on completed the expected job.
Nice afternoon entertainment for the attendance which the FAI put at 35,994. That’s 70% of a full Aviva Stadium. Some old habits die hard, it appears.
Much of the focus centred on what this Ireland team looks like after Vera Pauw and in reality it resembled the one she took over in 2019.
Restored to the side team was Diane Caldwell, the 35-year-old who had lost her place during the World Cup qualifiers, initially to Savannah McCarthy and, once she got injured, to Megan Connolly who was shunted back from midfield.
Caldwell's critique of the Pauw reign on Monday, crediting the players and not the manager for the feat, dominated the build-up and she was handed her 98th cap to back up her words with action.
Caretaker boss Eileen Gleeson also buried another ghost of the past by extracting Tyler Toland from four years of cold storage.
From blitzing 13 caps in the space of 13 months, starting as a 16-year-old, the midfielder had been excluded since 2019 when she fell out with Pauw. Gleeson was then the assistant and supposedly similarly aghast at the attitude of the player’s father Maurice but all is rosy now
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