No masking Ireland’s agony
Ireland’s Louise Quinn wears a mask to protect her broken nose during their Women’s World Cup qualifier against Norway yesterday. Norway won the game 1-0 to end Irish hopes of qualifying.
COLIN BELL once again bemoaned a defensive lapse and poor finishing after Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for the Women’s World Cup finals were ended in Stavanger.
Needing victory against the group’s top seeds, Ireland were undone by Caroline GrahamHansen’s goal from the spot midway through the first half.
Fussy referee Esther Staubli, who booked teenage debutant Issy Atkinson for entering the pitch too early as a substitute, penalised Claire O’Riordan for her late challenge on GrahamHansen after 24 minutes.
However, the Swiss didn’t point to the spot when Maren Mjelde caught Ireland’s Megan Connolly at the other end.
The Girls in Green almost nicked a late leveller when Katie McCabe swivelled 10 yards out but saw her low shot kept out by Ingrid Hjelmseth.
The defeat was Ireland’s third on the spin, crushing any hopes of them building on the positive start to the campaign that had raised hopes of a first-ever tournament being reached.
Norway will now battle it out with European champions Holland to decide which of them progresses to the finals in France next year automatically.
Ireland, meanwhile, are guaranteed third spot even before they host Northern Ireland in the concluding qualifier on August 31.
“Claire (O’Riordan) committed to the tackle early but Graham-Hansen was already up in the air before that. Not every referee would give that decision,” added Bell.
“In the case of our claim, I felt we were never going to get a penalty here.”
The solitary goal arrived just as Ireland appeared to have weathered early Norwegian pressure.
Wolfsburg’s Graham-Hansen capitalised was allowed raiding into the right side of the penalty area, inviting O’Riordan into a mistimed challenge on the occasion of her first competitive start.
Marie Hourihan guessed the right way, but Graham-Hansen’s 22nd international goal was nestled into the bottom corner.
IRELAND – M Hourihan (Man City); S Perry-Campbell (Brighton), C O’Riordan (Wexford), L Quinn (Arsenal), Á O’Gorman (Peamount ); K Duggan (Peamount); T Toland (Maiden City); D O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), M Connolly (Florida State Seminoles); K McCabe (Arsenal); L Kiernan (Shelbourne). Subs: A Barrett (Peamount) and R Jarrett (Wexford) for Connolly and Kiernan (both 83 mins), I Atkinson (Shelbourne) for O’Gorman (89 mins).