Clever English teach Ireland important lessons for the future

There was no white flag of surrender from the girls in green, though the emblem of the foreign conquerors was planted firmly on Irish soil. But as the stages get bigger and the tasks get tougher, so the gulf in class is emphasised.

The biggest night of the year for the Ireland women’s team, a date with England at Lansdowne Road, ended in the most predictable of outcomes, an away win.

England were too clever to be outwitted and bettered by Irish effort.

There was plenty of pre-match talk about Ireland taking on their highly-rated opponents and plenty of talk on the field, but not enough class from the home side who had more huddles (three – one at the start of each half and another after the second goal was conceded) than proper goal attempts.

Ireland looked at ease in the first 10 minutes and were the better side in the last 15 – but in the intervening spell England had assumed a control which they refused to relinquish.

From the imperious Alex Greenwood at the back through to brilliant Barcelona player Keira Walsh and Alessia Russo up front, England easily swatted away any Irish threats, until a home side freshened up by second-half subs proved more threatening.

Ireland did not help themselves at times. Whatever about the second penalty awarded to England (which Greenwood missed), there can be no complaints about the first one, which Greenwood converted on 16 minutes.

Ruesha Littlejohn did raise her arm, however unintentionally, to block out England’s threat.

Ireland’s best player, Katie McCabe, was badly exposed for her awareness and positional sense for the opening English goal.

In reality, England were going to win this game no matter what – they are too good a side to drop points twice in a week – but to gift them such a soft goal so early in the game meant Ireland were trying to mount an uphill challenge in bare feet.

Fallow

Midfield was a fallow field for an off-balance Ireland. Even a half-time switch –Megan Connolly on for the sub-par Littlejohn – could not rectify it, while the added weapon of Megan Campbell’s long-range throws offered potential but no end product, bar a couple of corners.

A relatively positive opening 10-miute spell from Ireland was not sustained or extended.

England got their noses in front and after that the home crowd clung to tiny victories for comfort, like the missed penalty in the first half or an offside call against sub Beth Mead which ended a later England attack.

Although a stirring 15-minute finale was more like it from Ireland who had a verve which was absent early on. There was the odd flurry of hope from one of the Irish subs as Leanne Kiernan and Emily Murphy did inject some life – and it was a free taken by sub Campbell which posed the biggest threat. But it was not enough to trouble an England outfit who could summon world-class talents like Fran Kirby and Mead off the bench, and they kept Hannah Hampton’s goal protected.

And yet on a night when the national broadcaster quite rightly demoted the men’s Champions League to a lesser channel to give the Ireland women’s national team centre stage, there was a hint of optimism in Dublin 4.

Cracks had appeared in the English performance in their previous game, halting a four-match winning run for the European champions. Ireland also came back from their game away to France with something close to a moral victory – a loss by the narrowest of margins.

All glory is fleeting so maybe, just maybe, England’s time was up and this was a night for green to blot out white, for Ireland’s tigers to scratch away at the Lionesses. The optimism, though, was misplaced.

England had failed to score in just one of their previous 15 away games, and before last week’s disappointing draw with the Swedes had racked up 18 goals in the previous three games. Here, it took them just 11 minutes and 28 seconds to break down Ireland, and the game was won before the half-hour mark.

There are seven weeks before this Irish side – now without a goal in four games – are up again with a double-header against Sweden.

Eileen Gleeson’s side will by now be aware that they can compete with nations like this, but they know they have to do it for more than 10-minute spells.