Every now and then sport throws up moments that will go down in history, moments that will remembered as the time that things changed.
Thursday night in Tallaght Stadium was one of those moments in Irish football. It was a moment that will resonate for the women’s game here. The Republic of Ireland went into the game knowing that a win would secure the playoff place in Group A and eliminate Finland from the running.
It was a hard-fought game, not one for the purists, but in years to come, no one will remember the performance, but the result could live long in the memory. There is still work to do and there will be big challenges ahead as Vera Pauw’s team navigates the route that could send them to the World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand next summer.
The Ireland women’s national team have never qualified for a major tournament before and have endured many disappointments, none more so than the heartbreaking match in Ukraine in the last European qualifiers that put an end to Irish dreams of playing in Euro 2022.
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It was a night that gave Denise O’Sullivan nightmares but now she and her team-mates can dream of bigger things for their group. This is the best Irish squad that we’ve seen. There is so much depth in each position that when key players like Niamh Fahey miss out on selection due to injury, players like Megan Campbell, Jessica Ziu and Jamie Finn can step into the team.
When a player like Ruesha Littlejohn sustains an injury in the game, match-winners like Lily Agg can come off the bench. This team stands on the shoulders of the many women that wore the green jersey before them and they are destined for great heights.
The scenes in Tallaght Stadium will live long in the memories of, not only the players, but also the thousands of young fans who attended the game and the many more who watched at home.
Ireland had to dig in in this game. They had to find a way to win against a Finland team that set up slightly differently to what Ireland anticipated, under their interim manager, Marko Saloranto. The Finns were clever in how they used their midfield line to create numerical overloads in the centre of the pitch and Ireland struggled to get a cohesive press initiated in the first half.
But the Finns had a vulnerability from crosses. Every goal they conceded in Euro 2022 originated from a cross, with the exception of a penalty, which was conceded in attempt to stop a cross. When Ireland’s match-winning goal came in the 54th minute, it was almost inevitable that it should come from a cross.
A perfectly-weighted free-kick was met convincingly by London City Lioness Lily Agg, who bravely committed to finishing with a beautifully-executed header. Finland had issues in their defensive set-up, allowing Agg to drift free but Ireland dished out a fate that they so often have suffered, where the one mistake costs the game.
It was a big moment in the game and has the potential to be a huge moment in Irish football. Ireland dug in and saw out the match. So often before, there have been hard-luck stories from winning positions, but this time, fuelled from those disappointments, Ireland refused to lose what they had built and found the resilience to get over the line.
The experience needed to do that can only be earned from hard defeats. The ones that you keep awake at night. But what Ireland have demonstrated in this campaign is that they have learned from those bitter moments and that is the key to success. Ireland have found different ways to win matches in this campaign and that is what makes the difference.
It’s not always about the best tactics or the best fitness or the best game plan. You need all those things for sure, but the real ingredient for success if having that deep-seated will to win which prevents you from giving up. It’s about being able to go to the well and sometimes going to depths that you never knew you had in order to get over the line.
Pauw and her team have demonstrated the ability to do this. They’ve opened themselves to the potential of failure by setting the bar higher. If they are to do what no Irish women’s team has done before then they had to let go of the fear of failure. Only then can a team grow.
If you set the bar so low that you can’t fail, then you will never grow. You will never do what hasn’t been done before. That’s why this Irish team is different. While qualification is not done yet, you get the sense there is still so much more to come from them.
They have it all. The talent, the technique, the skill, the intelligence, the depth, the courage and the personality. But most of all, they have the dream and have set the bar high. And they’re not done yet.
