George has assured us the Aussies donât sing a lot, I think he said it yesterday but we just got to hear it now
Hot as fuck
Not her so
Ceist is dead
2 Likes
Didnât see game but is âMalâ been harsh here, with âunforgivableâ?
More melodramatic than harsh
1 Like
This is senior hurling now
1 Like
Thought Mal would be a #bekind sort
1 Like
Malachy must be from an alternative dimension where female sportspersons are open to criticism.
Thatâs equality for you.
1 Like
Heâs going to get cancelled for this.
Iâd expect an apology by 12 noon tomorrow.
1 Like
Be grand, go back to your golf
1 Like
Sheâs a yank so he is less likely to run into her. That emboldens them.
I find it difficult not to laugh at womenâs football, are the cliff notes for the office water cooler chat that the convicts robbed the gurls in green?
1 Like
Vera fucked us.
Played too conservatively.
She needs to take the Handbrake off
Katie is a great bit of stuff
Did you know sheâs split from the Littlejohn girl
Could someone with an Irish Times subscription post Karen Dugganâs article on the game please?
This might not make much sense, but after our opener against Australia on Thursday, I was happy to be disappointed.
After researching the Australians and their form going in to the tournament, I just thought ⌠oh God. I felt trepidation.
Sam Kerr was, of course, a huge loss for the co-hosts, her absence would definitely have buoyed our players, and it would have been a massive relief for the girls at the back because her movement is second to none. It will be a real shame if she doesnât get to show just how good she is in a World Cup on home soil.
But Australia are far from a one-player team, they have a group that is just a higher calibre than ours.
Yet we showed that we could mix it at that level. We defended resolutely, they needed a penalty to beat us, and if goal difference comes in to play in the group, conceding just once could prove crucial. All that is where my happiness came from â if you told me beforehand that Iâd be disappointed we didnât take something from the game, Iâd have doubted you.
I think thatâs how the players will reflect on it too. Theyâll be frustrated, but lifted by how they dealt with the momentous occasion. Lifted by their performance after they went a goal down. Lifted by Australia having only two shots on target in the course of the game, one a hit and hope from about 50 yards and the other a penalty. Courtney Brosnan is our player of the year because of how busy sheâs been in the last 12 months, on Thursday she barely had a save to make.
Thatâs a testament to what went on in front of her, to the work-rate of her team-mates in every area of the pitch. It was, ultimately, undone by the concession of that penalty. Marissa Sheva made a mistake. It can happen to anyone.
[ Australia 1 Ireland 0: How the Irish players rated on their World Cup debut ]
But we finished the match on a high and when you do that it can soften the blow of defeat because it gives you some confidence going in to your next game. And the players will feel that if they can start against Canada as they finished against Australia, theyâll have a chance.
And that, as ever, is my frustration, that itâs only after we concede that we throw the shackles off. Thatâs the next stage in our development, having the confidence to take a game to a team rather than waiting to go a goal down before doing it. But our approach was always going to be to stay in the game for as long as possible and then see if we could go nick something.
Once we started testing their goalkeeper and defence with free-kicks and corners in particular in the closing stages, we discovered their weaknesses. Itâs a pity we didnât test them earlier â identifying those weaknesses might have given us the confidence to go after them more.
That will frustrate the players because they know they can play better football. You could sense that from Katie McCabeâs interview when she said we showed more of what weâre about in that second half. We have girls who have the ability to hurt our opponents, itâs about getting them into the game.
Denise OâSullivan and Ruesha Littlejohn did really, really well defensively â but by denying Denise the freedom to get forward, are you robbing Peter to pay Paul? Is there someone else you could put in there to allow her be a playmaker? Before she was switched to defence, Megan Connolly played that role which freed Denise to get in the pockets a little bit more and be more engaged with the attack.
And I just wish we werenât so married to five at the back, especially because it leaves two of our more powerful runners, Katie and Heather Payne, pinned back. I looked at New Zealand and the way they set up against Norway, a traditional 4-5-1 that allowed them get players up in support of their lone striker. They didnât have to come from as deep as our midfielders, and playing that deep makes it very hard to get up in support of Kyra Carusa on those rare occasions she establishes possession herself.
[ âThey played roughâ: What the Australian papers made of Irelandâs first World Cup match ]
But maybe thatâs looking at it through green-tinted glasses. We have to be realistic as well. Australia are being spoken about as dark horses for the tournament and Canada are the Olympic champions. So, in fairness, itâs hard to fault that cautious approach because itâs what got us to the World Cup, that rigid back line, with the players in front chipping in on the defensive effort. If Vera Pauw was to do something completely different now sheâd be under fire. Damned if you do, damned if you donât.
But weâll be coming up against top class players when we play Canada, they will create chances â it would be great if we could too in a way that doesnât involve pushing Louise Quinn up front.
If you are Amber Barrett, how are you feeling in that situation when youâre left on the bench? Given what she showed in the game against Zambia last month, when she scored twice, I was surprised she wasnât brought on. Especially because when Abbie Larkin and Lucy Quinn came on, they were able to impact the game. Why not take a chance on another sub?
I canât imagine Pauw changing anything tactically in this tournament, but I do think the girls might take it upon themselves to get that line higher and take some risks. Theyâll look back on what happened when we pushed up the pitch, when we got more players in the box, how we had Australia scrambling at times.
And Larkin was a big part of that after she came on, she did a brilliant job. She has certainly put a question in Pauwâs mind: should she start against Canada? Itâs obviously a massive ask for an 18-year-old, but she brought a freshness to the team, she ran at players, she played with no fear.
But for all my frustration over us not being braver, I still think the performance against Australia is something we can be very, very proud of. We looked like we belonged at that level. And seeing these players, many of them former team-mates, on that stage left me feeling very emotional. And, yes, very proud.
2 Likes
Amber was blackguarded