Ireland have no answer for classy Dutch
THIS was a reality check for the Republic of Ireland as their unbeaten start to qualifying came to a shuddering halt in front of a record attendance of 4,047 for a senior women’s international.
The Netherlands cruised to victory, taking top spot outright with the play-offs now looking like the only realistic route to France for the girls in green next year.
From first minute to last, the European champions were a cut above their dogged, but limited, opponents who failed to hit a shot on target and were unable to pull off another famous result against the Oranje, having held them to a scoreless draw earlier in the campaign.
Prior to kick-off, Ireland head coach Colin Bell described the Dutch as the best team in the world on current form — they came into this clash on the back of a 7-0 win over Northern Ireland — and it was of particular annoyance that a basic error from captain Katie McCabe on the edge of her own box led to the visitors taking an 11-minute lead.
Ireland were left punch drunk when striker Lineth Beerensteyn headed home from Renate Jansen’s cross after McCabe tried to dribble free rather than clear her lines.
‘Put the ball in the stand, nothing happens,’ he said bluntly. ‘Against these teams it’s hard to get the balance right. They are the decisive moments, making a blunder there, taking someone on at the edge of box.’
Bell was livid and his mood wasn’t helped by referee Stephanie Frappart’s decision to award a 23rd-minute penalty when Diane Caldwell brought down Lieke Martens. Replays showed contact came outside of the box but that didn’t stop Sherida Spitse sending Marie Hourihane the wrong way from the spot. It was 2-0 and game.
‘We made a fight of it, we made a scrap of it but we just couldn’t attack them,’ Bell rued.
The remainder of the first half saw Ireland camped on their own 18-yard box as they attempted to stifle the Dutch. They succeeded in doing so but after a last-gasp winner against Slovakia on Friday, Ireland had no attacking threat.
Ball after ball was played down each wing for lone forward Leanne Kiernan to chase. It was a thankless task and yielded little reward. The same goes for substitute Amber Barrett who was brought on to give Ireland extra presence up front.
Denise O’Sullivan was the pick of the Irish players in possession, but she was too far from the final third and could make little impact.
Danielle van de Donk almost made it 3-0 with 15 minutes remaining but Hourihan made a superb save.
There was disappointment rather than despair at the final whistle, although the news that Norway beat the North to close to within one point with a game in hand won’t have helped the mood.
The superb Dutch were clapped off by the Ireland fans while Bell gathered his squad together by the centre circle and later explained: ‘I love my girls, they did great but we have to get away from the mentality of “oh, we only lost 2-0 to the European champions”. No, we lost. We have to do everything right in these games.’
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Hourihan; Perry-Campbell, Quinn, Caldwell, Duggan; Boyle-Carr (Barrett h-t), Connolly (Littlejohn 73), Fahey, McCabe (c), O’Sullivan. Booked: Connolly 43, McCabe 52
NETHERLANDS: Van Veenendaal (c); Jansen, Van der Gragt, Janssen, Worm; Groenen, Spitse, Van de Donk; Van de Sanden (Roord 69), Beerensteyn, Martens. Scorers: Beerensteyn 11, Spitse 23 Booked: Worm 58 Referee: S Frappart (Fra). Attendance: 4,047