Update: Canada cancel out McCabe screamer to make it 1-1 at half-time
IRELAND…1 (Katie McCabe 5) CANADA…1 (Megan Connolly OG 45+5)
The sleepy town of Perth was awoken by the cacophony of celebratory noise from Katie McCabe giving Ireland an early lead against Olympic champions Canada.
History was made when the captain took just three minutes and 38 seconds to fire the Girls in Green ahead – directly from a corner – with their first-ever tournament goal.
It was gold-standard technique worthy of any Olympian.
The inswinger with her trusty left foot floated right over the limb swing of Kailen Sheridan’s hand and into the far corner left unguarded by Jordyn Huitema.
Sadly, they couldn’t hold the lead until half-time as Juventus star Julia Grosso also succeeded from an unlikely source, her cross deflecting off the retreating Megan Connolly on its way to nestling in Courtney Brosnan’s far corner.
A second successive defeat following the narrow opening loss to Australia would eliminate Ireland from the World Cup with Monday’s final group B game against Nigeria to spare but they well deserve to be at least on terms at the break.
Midafternoon showers teeming in from the west coast of Australia reemerged just 30 minutes before kick-off when opposing manager Vera Pauw and Bev Priestman embraced at the centre circle but the rains hasn’t dampened the mood in the 21,000-capacity arena dominated by Ireland fans.
They’ve been treated to an Ireland performance similar to the bravery shown when taking the lead away to top seeds Sweden in the qualifiers.
Canada pipped the Swedes to Olympic supremacy two years ago in Tokyo. However, their demise continued as they followed up the stalemate against Nigeria by failing to hardly lay a glove on Ireland until that later intervention.
In for Marissa
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