90 minutes from history
Euro finals place tantalisingly close for NI’S women
LET’S hear it for the girls.
Five years on from one of the most memorable games in Northern Ireland’s football history, the senior team once again face Ukraine, hoping for Euros glory.
This time, however, it is the women who stand on the brink of another remarkable triumph.
Kenny Shiels’ battling ladies are 90 minutes away from reaching next year’s European Championship finals in England, and thus emulating the men’s team, who made it to France for their first ever Euro finals series in 2016.
Thanks to goals from Rachel Furness and Simone Magill in the first leg of the play-off in Kovalivka last week, the girls go into tonight’s showdown at Seaview in north Belfast 2-1 ahead.
That makes them slight favourites to progress, but it’s really only half time and another epic performance — in front of empty stands, unfortunately — will be needed if they are to realise their dream of reaching a major tournament.
No one will be cheering more loudly than former Northern Ireland defender Gareth Mcauley, who of course has fond memories of scoring a fantastic header against the Ukrainians in Lyon in June 2016.
‘Big G’ said he would be delighted to see the girls make it on to European football’s top table.
“I was mightily impressed by their performance in the first leg, when I thought they displayed a proper Northern Ireland performance,” the ex-premier League star told the Belfast Telegraph.
“It was full of hunger, desire and grit.
“Ukraine will be hurting and determined to rectify the situation but I’m confident our girls can see this one out.
“Belief is key. They need to be confident in their ability, remain composed and take their chances when they arrive.”
He added: “This is a great opportunity for the girls and it will be a much needed lift for women’s football in Northern Ireland if they were able to create history.”
Meanwhile, ex-northern Ireland captain Gail Redmond, who is co-commentating on the match — which will be shown live on BBC 2 and on the BBC Sport NI website — said she felt “very privileged to be one of the lucky ones who gets to see the match live”.
“It’ll be an amazing experience and I believe they can go all the way,” she said. “They’re just 90 minutes away from being history makers. The start of the campaign didn’t go to plan — they suffered back to back defeats.
“But then Kenny [Shiels, their manager] introduced a new style of playing with belief, which they bought into, and they’ve all shown superb resilience, competitive spirit and togetherness.”
Broadcaster and die-hard Northern Ireland fan Colin Murray told the Belfast Telegraph that the team was “brilliant”.
“The Green and White Army women’s team has captured the imagination of the thousands and thousands of fans who I believe would’ve sold out Windsor Park had tickets been on sale.
“They fought against the odds the whole way through and they go into this game defying all expectations, with nothing to lose, regardless of the outcome.”
He added: “It’s hard to put into words what an achievement it would be to qualify.”
Stephen Craigan, who captained the men’s team on many occasions, said that on behalf of all Northern Ireland fans he wishes them well in their quest to make history.
“They’re on the verge of history,” the 54-cap defender told this newspaper. “They’ve been terrific so far; they’ve won five games in a row. And now there’s a genuine belief that they can do it.
“They’re on the verge of a dream — so let’s go and make this dream a reality.”
He added: “Women’s football has been in the shadows for too long. This is a chance for them to make history for the country and for themselves.” William Nelson, whose daughter Julie has won 115 caps in the 17 years since her Northern Ireland debut in 2004, said the Crusaders Newtownabbey Strikers player was determined not to let any rivals get past her tonight on her home ground.
“It’s fantastic the way this has worked out,” he said.
“It’s been a long slog for Julie; her mother and I have watched her play all over the world.
“The irony is that, although we don’t have far to go for this crucial match, we can’t get in to see it because of the pandemic restrictions.”
‘Let’s go and make this dream a reality’
CHLOE Mccarron’s career is on such a sharp upward trajectory that no other Northern Ireland footballer, male or female, can talk of such a spectacular rise over the last 18 months.
In September 2019, after winning a third successive league title with Linfield Ladies, there is no way Mccarron could have imagined she would be where she is now.
At that time, the 23-year-old was on the fringes of the Northern Ireland international team as they kicked off their Women’s European Championship qualifying campaign
Now she is playing for Birmingham City Women in the WSL — ranked in the top three leagues in Europe — after becoming the first woman to transfer from an Irish League club to one in England’s top flight.
She is also a major part of Kenny Shiels’ team — a side that, just like Mccarron, would never have thought a year-and-a-half ago that they would be 2-1 up going into the decisive home leg of a playoff for a place at the Women’s Euro finals.
She may be standing on a much higher rung than a year ago when she was hoping coronavirus would clear up and allow her to start the season with Linfield, but Mccarron is aiming to climb to the top of the ladder by finishing the job against Ukraine tonight and then sampling the international football big time next summer.
“At the start of the campaign, the majority of people ruled us out early on and no one expected us to be here,” said Mccarron.
“A lot of people thought it would be Norway or Wales up there, even Belarus, but not us.”
Even the Coleraine girl admitted: “A few years ago I couldn’t have seen this, but since Kenny came in there has been a change in mentality in the squad and that’s changed my mind.
“We’ve made a lot of positive changes and that has made the group advance.”
Mccarron’s impact on Northern Ireland’s campaign reached its peak in the final group game at home to the Faroe Islands.
Already on the way to bagging the player of the match award as she pulled the strings in a commanding performance in midfield, she hit the first goal of her international career when she cracked home a stunning strike in the 5-1 win that clinched the play-off place.
Since the 0-0 draw at home to Wales in November 2019 that put Northern Ireland ahead of their group rivals on head-to-head record — which Uefa use to separate teams who finish level on points — the games have just got bigger and bigger. And they don’t come much bigger than tonight’s tussle at Seaview.
“It’s massive, not just for me but for everybody. It’s the biggest game of our careers,” said Mccarron.
“I know for the older players as well, they may never face the likes of this game again, so it’s massive for everybody.
“Personally, you’d never have thought two years ago we’d be sitting in this position and I don’t think many people expected it either, so it’s nice to kind of make people eat their own words.”
Shiels made a tactical decision to leave Mccarron on the bench on Friday night. Thirty minutes
in, she was thrust into the action when Rachel Furness was forced off with an ankle injury and her involvement tonight is in the balance.
Think Ian Baraclough going into last year’s Euro 2020 playoff final without Steven Davis — that’s how integral Furness is to the team.
Mccarron stepped up in a seamless change and she is ready to do the same again tonight.
Knowing it will be an emotional occasion, she said: “I think either way I will be crying on Tuesday night because it is massive, but if we can win it will give us all something to really look forward to.”
Everyone is hoping that those tears are tears of joy.