The Republic of Ireland missed out on their chance to qualify for the European Championships for the first time in their history with a 2-1 loss to Cymru on Tuesday night. Sports Editor Adam Schmitz reports on a disappointing night in the Aviva Stadium.
It was heartache for Eileen Gleeson’s Ireland team as they missed out on qualification for next summer’s European Championships with a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Cymru in the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night, losing 3-2 on aggregate. A penalty from Hannah Cain and a defensive error from Cailyn Hayes leading to a Carrie Jones goal was enough to win the fixture for Cymru, despite a late comeback effort fronted by an Anna Patten header.
The performance from The Girls in Green was nothing to criticise, simply lacking enough to finish the job.
The home side were on top for most of the first half, with Courtney Bronson making two good saves and Katie McCabe, Denise O’Sullivan and Heather Payne quickly getting rid of any fears that both teams would sit back and try to defend their way to victory.
Tides turned at the start of the second half when a long VAR check awarded a penalty to Cymru for a handball from Ireland’s Anna Patten. Hannah Cain slotted it past Courtney Brosnan to give Wales the lead. It wasn't much later when a long through ball found Carrie Jones, with Cailyn Hayes failing to accurately clear it. There was nothing Brosnan could have done to keep the ball from going into the bottom left corner. Ireland pushed and pushed but Anna Patten’s 86th minute later wasn't enough to spur on a comeback.
“This is exactly where we want to be”. Eileen Gleeson’s pre-match programme notes rang true not only for the head coach herself, but for each of the twenty five thousand plus fans in the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night. Ninety minutes stood in the way of history for the Women’s National Team, with just our Irish Sea neighbours Cymru having stood in the way of a historic qualification for the European Championships, something a team of Irish women have never accomplished. That wait will now go on util at least 2029.
The first leg of this playoff ended as a stalemate in Cardiff on Saturday night. A botched attempted clearance from Niamh Fahey allowed Lily Woodham to open the scoring twenty minutes into proceedings. Ruesha Littlejohn cancelled that goal out just fifteen minutes later after her sensational 35 yard strike hit the crossbar before bouncing off the back of Welsh goalkeeper Olivia Clark and making its way into the goal. The match was a cagey affair, and with neither team brave enough to sacrifice their defense in the name of attacking football, the game ended at one goal a piece.
With both teams eyeing Switzerland 2025 as their first ever European Championship, Welsh boss Rhian Wilkinson described the fixture prior to the game as a “battle”. Irish captain Katie McCabe echoed her thoughts, responding to the physical nature of the first leg by saying “Whatever game they want to play, we’ll be prepared for it”.
Eileen Gleeson made just one change to her starting eleven from the first leg, with Jessie Stapleton coming in for Lily Agg who was taken off at halftime in Cardiff. Cymru made two changes, with Josie Green and Hannah Cain taking the places of Cerri Holland and Ffion Morgan. Katie McCabe captained Ireland while Angharad James wore the armband for Cymru in what she called “the biggest game we have all played in”.
The prematch comments of a physical and tension filled match were accurate, and were discussed in great detail in the post match press conference. Eileen Gleeson claimed that Katie McCabe’s aggression was spurred on by provocation from the Cymru bench, and when asked if they went too far, she simply replied “yes”. Cymru manager Rhian Wilkinson said on the matter,
“It was a battle. When it's very physical on the field… the benches have a lot of stress as well and it does boil up every now and then”.
Speaking on her side’s loss, Gleeson said, “I thought in the first half we dominated, we should’ve finished off the chances that we had. The penalty knocked us back a bit, we had to go again”. Describing how the team and herself were feeling having failed to qualify for Euro 2025, she said, “It's a pretty emotional time and that's basically where we’re at right now”.
She finished the press conference on a more determined note.
“That's football you go again. You take the highs, you take the lows but we have to go again. Women's football is not standing still”.
Team Lineups
Ireland:
Courntey Brosnan, Jessie Stapleton, Caitlin Hayes, Niamh Fahey, Ruesha Littlejohn, Denise O’Sullivan, Katie McCabe (C), Anna Patten, Heather Payne, Kyra Carusa, Julie-Ann Russell
Substitutions: Grace Moloney, Sophie Whitehouse, Megan Campbell, Megan Connolly, Diane Caldwell, Lily Agg, Marissa Sheva, Tyler Toland, Isibeal Atkinson, Abbie Larkin, Amber Barrett, Leanne Kiernan
Cymru:
Olivia Clark, Lily Woodham, Gemma Evans, Hayley Ladd, Rhiannon Roberts, Alice Griffiths, Angharad James (C), Josie Green, Jessica Fishlock, Rachel Rowe, Hannah Cain
Substitutions: Safia Middleton-Patel, Laura O’Sullivan, Ella Powell, Mayzee Davies, Ceri Holland, Ffion Morgan, Carrie Jones, Mared Griffiths, Mary McAteer, Charlotte Estcourt, Lois Joel, Kayleigh Green Barton