STILL STAV A CHANCE
Bell insists there’s hope ahead of Norway trip
REMAINING FIXTURES
COLIN BELL is refusing to believe his Republic of Ireland team face Mission Impossible in Stavanger on Tuesday.
But he still let rip on his players for shooting themselves in the foot in a game decided by two set-pieces.
After going down 2-0 at home to Norway in Tallaght last night, the Girls in Green have it all to do to rescue their dwindling World Cup play-off hopes.
They must beat the group’s top seeds in next week’s return in Norway having slipped two points behind them into third.
Second-placed Norway still have a crucial game in hand while Ireland – chasing their first tournament appearance – only have Northern Ireland at home in August after that.
But while Bell wants his players to park their frustration and regroup ahead of a do-or-die game, he still put a rocket under them. “I don’t Utland 21, 61 think so,” he said when asked if Ireland were out of the play-off race. “I honestly don’t think so, especially not after this performance.
“We had situations where we were very good, situations where we got behind them and got the ball into the box but, again, it’s that decisiveness.
“Yes Norway are the better side but you cannot concede those sorts of goals and expect to stay in the game. Sometimes you have to have a smack in the face – or a couple – to learn but we have to learn fast and stop making these mistakes.”
And yet it might have been a different game had Leanne Kiernan equalised early in the second half.
The Shelbourne ace scampered free deep inside her own half, only to see her shot from the edge of the Norway box saved.
Asked what was going through her head on that run, Kiernan said: “To get the ball in the net but it didn’t happen.” But she added: “We have to realise that it’s not over. If we get the win on Tuesday we have a great opportunity still to qualify. We have to believe it goes well for us over there.”
But Bell (right) wasn’t letting the 18-year-old away lightly, insisting they are precisely the chances that have to be converted if Ireland want to mix it at this level.
“We should have scored,” he said.
“Leanne’s got to finish, not with a low shot, she’s got to whack it like she did against Slovakia.”
But Denise O’sullivan – named Ireland’s best player – isn’t giving up hope either as the squad jet out to Norway today.
“We have to win on Tuesday,” she said. “We’ll go out and attack them, we’ll still stay disciplined and compact but we’ll try beat them on the counter.”