The planets aren’t supposed to align like this. After one of the darkest weeks in Ireland’s recent past, it fell to a Milford girl to send Ireland to the World Cup. Amber Barrett came off the bench with half an hour to go and threw a lasso around a game that had been bucking and kicking this way and that. Then she went down on one knee and held her black armband tight, a tribute to the victims of the Creeslough explosion. Glory and sorrow in the same steaming stew.
“I know Creeslough like the back of my hand,” she said afterwards. “Both my grandparents are Creeslough born and bred. I spent all my summers in Creeslough. I know people who died in the tragedy, I know people who were on the scene of the tragedy.
“There’s been a sombreness about me the last few days. This is fantastic for Irish football but we know we don’t scratch the surface of what has happened. This goal, this award, this night is for those 10 beautiful souls who died. This is for Creeslough. This is for Donegal.”
The goal was the one moment of still and calm on a night of frenzy. It came with 20 minutes left on the clock, at a time when the stakes were pushing ever more loutishly to the front of everyone’s minds. Both teams knew where it all stood by then – Portugal had beaten Iceland so the road to the World Cup was arrow straight now. Nobody wanted to be the cause of the twist or the turn.
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Enter Denise O’Sullivan. The game needed someone to be brave, to take their time and be the calm voice in the cacophony. As so often before, the wizard Cork midfielder took it upon herself to be the one who did the right thing.
Her pass for Barrett perfectly weighted – not too far ahead to tempt the goalkeeper out, not too light on speed to give the Sophie Howard a chance. Barrett’s touch was likewise apt to the moment – she cut across to take the space and dare Howard into a foul and then flicked a gorgeous finish beyond Alexander and into the bottom corner.
“I wanted to chip her but she didn’t come out!” the goalscorer laughed afterwards. “So once she stayed there, I did the only thing I’m good at – I gave it the big toe. And it went in! I can’t believe it.”
In the end, Ireland deserved everything they got. They created more chances. They leaned on the astonishing power of Megan Campbell’s long throws to create havoc in the Scotland box and were unlucky not to score a hatful from that tactic alone. They restricted the home side largely to potshots – and when the Scots managed a clearer sight of goal, Courtney Brosnan was equal to everything.
Most crucially, she saved an early penalty in a game where the first goal was always likely to be the killer. A Martha Thomas snapshot in the Ireland box on 12 minutes caught the flailing arm of Niamh Fahey and cannoned off the crossbar. Real Madrid’s Caroline Weir stepped up to it but Brosnan dived to her left and got a strong hand to it and Ireland were alive.
Her manager said afterwards that it was no accident. “We planned for her penalty,” said Vera Pauw. “We knew that’s where she would hit it. I don’t know who was Player of the Match but I would say Courtney deserves it more than anybody. She was fantastic again.”
Again is the right word. Though O’Sullivan and Katie McCabe are the team’s star turns, nobody has had a better campaign that the American-born goalkeeper. Her solidity is a key part of what makes Pauw’s side tick. Her approach throughout has been the doctors’ creed – first, do no harm. Ireland dig in and then they set about getting results.
This is who Ireland have been right throughout the campaign. In eight games up to this, Vera Pauw’s side had only conceded once before the break – Louise Quinn’s own goal against Sweden in Tallaght a year ago. The songs changed from game to game but with the exceptions of the Georgia wallopings, they all started in the same key – solid structure, bodies jamming up the middle, nothing given away without extracting a steep tariff.
They got to half-time scoreless here – although they should have had at least one of their own. How did they miss? Let us count the ways. Áine O’Gorman missed a sitter from a brilliant McCabe cross, Scotland cleared off the line three times in five seconds. Campbell threw the ball straight into the net when the merest of touches would have done the trick.
None of it mattered in the end. Donegal’s finest made sure of it.
