Ireland need to learn to battle back from a deficit
Women's World Cup Group B
AUSTRALIA 1 (Steph Catley 52 pen) IRELAND 0
Of all the truisms attached to this Ireland team of history-makers, the one about them needing to score first remains the most pronounced.
Defeat in Sydney stretches to almost eight years the last time the Girls in Green battled back from a deficit in a competitive game to claim anything from a higher seed.
Victories in the last qualification campaign on the road in Scotland and Finland, as well as the draw in Sweden were built on Ireland hitting the front. The same applies for Vera Pauw’s maiden game at the game in October 2019 against Ukraine at Tallaght, racing into a two-goal lead, pegged back level before the winner of a 3-2 triumph arrived early in the second half.
In simple terms, the vast majority of players representing Ireland at their first-ever tournament have never experienced the joy of cancelling out concessions and earning at least a draw for their endeavours.
To do so, bar produce rearguard masterclasses like that demonstrated in the forests of Nijmegen seven years ago when holding Euro champions Netherlands scoreless, they’ll need to find the net.
This blank made it five of their six games this year failing to hit the net. Granted, four of those outings were against top-10 ranked nations – USA twice, France and Australia – but the absence of goals constituted a concern if Ireland are to at least use this breakthrough as the template to become routinely competitive in qualifications.
Set-pieces are – and remain – the team’s greatest threat. Three of the four goals nestled against the top two seeds in qualifying, Sweden and Finland, were sourced through those means. Megan Connolly’s free-kick and a direct corner by Katie McCabe
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