After a certain game in Glasgow last Tuesday, keeping an eye on the form and fitness of Republic of Ireland’s players between now and next summer takes on a whole new significance. There are, after all, World Cup squad places to be booked.
Three of Ireland’s outstanding players from that historic win over Scotland had, though, a less than happy return to club football.
Amber Barrett was in the Turbine Potsdam side that lost 2-0 at home to defending Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg, German striker Alexandra Popp opening the scoring in front of a crowd of 2,623, before Ewa Pajor sealed the win in injury time.
Back in England, Everton’s Courtney Brosnan gave away a penalty and, unlike her heroics in Glasgow, failed to save it in a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea, while Niamh Fahey’s own goal gave Spurs a 1-0 win at home to Liverpool, for whom Megan Campbell came on from the bench.
There was no joy either for the Republic’s Reading pair of Grace Moloney and Diane Caldwell in their 1-0 home defeat by Arsenal, goalkeeper Moloney dropped for the game, after a difficult week following her posting of *that* video, while Caldwell was an unused sub. Irish captain Katie McCabe played 83 minutes of the game for Arsenal.
In better news, Megan Connolly was back on the bench for Brighton on Saturday after recovering from the injury that ruled her out of the Scotland game, while back home all four of the National League players on squad duty in Glasgow – Aine O’Gorman (Peamount United), Eve Badana (DLR Waves), and Keeva Keenan and Abbie Larkin (both Shelbourne) – were in winning action on Saturday, O’Gorman scoring twice for Peamount United in their 5-0 win over Cork City.
Among the goals were Ciara Grant, with a 25 yarder for Hearts in their 3-0 win over Aberdeen, and Kyra Carusa, who scored in Danish league leaders HB Koge’s 4-3 win over FC Thy-Thisted.
