TOO STRONG

cision-making in the final-third were aspects that Gleeson felt could be improved upon, but there was no sign of progress being made from last Friday.

There were plenty of examples of Ireland failing to make the most of their forays into the English half.

When Denise O’Sullivan, turned well in midfield and sprayed the ball wide to Heather Payne, the Everton winger took too many touches before assessing her options and the visitors had time to regroup.

Payne then did well to win possession deep in Irish territory and charge forward, only to overhit her pass to Lucy Quinn, who was forced wide left to retrieve the ball.

Again, the sting had been taken out of a promising counter.

Quinn too was guilty of a poor pass in a promising position when she played the ball too far in front of McCabe, as the Arsenal ace sprinted into space on the left.

And then it was McCabe’s turn to suffer from a rush of blood to the head when she opened up to receive a pass from Patten.

To see her allow the ball to roll under her foot and out of play summed up the frustrations of Ireland’s attacking efforts.

Quality

Of course, when analysing Ireland’s performance, you have to acknowledge the quality of the opposition — and England were electrifying at times.

But the fact was, when opportunities presented themselves to the hosts, they struggled with the basics.

And unfortunately there were basic defensive errors for both of England’s first-half goals.

With 12 minutes on the clock, McCabe was drawn inside towards Lauren James as a cross was whipped in from Mannion’s side.

As the ball carried beyond the Chelsea forward, McCabe back-pedalled but couldn’t get to Lucy Bronze, whose knockdown allowed James to sweep home from 10 yards.

Six minutes later and England’s lead was doubled — and again it was a cross from England’s left.

This time McCabe got up above Bronze to head clear, but only as far as Jessica Park, whose fiercely hit volley smacked off the outstretched hand of Littlejohn.

Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara took her time before pointing to the spot, but when she did Alex Greenwood made no mistake, sending Courtney Brosnan the wrong way.

It should have been 3-0 on the half-hour when England attacked once again, you guessed it, down their left flank.

Hemp accelerated past Mannion and crossed towards Alessia Russo, she got her toe to the ball and hooked it overhead, where it struck Louise Quinn’s raised forearm.

Curl

There was no hesitation this time from the referee, but Greenwood, who opted for the other corner, saw her effort fly off the inside of the right post, across goal and curl out of play.

As the first half neared an end, England really found their rhythm and threatened to slice through the Irish defence on several occasions.

A combination of the offside flag and a poor final ball rescued the Irish from a heavier deficit.

The early second-half play encouraged the large home crowd to find their voice, as Ireland threatened to venture deeper into English territory.

But a killer final ball continued to prove elusive, while the visitors occasionally moved through the gears at the other end.

Somehow they failed to make it three when McCabe, 20 minutes into the second half, lost out to James on the left touchline.

James’ back-post cross was nodded down by Ella Toone and substitute Fran Kirby was denied by a brilliant point-blank save by Brosnan.

Then came the late chances, but to no avail.

Irish