In their final fixture of a momentous year, Republic of Ireland beat fellow World Cup qualifiers Morocco 4-0 in a friendly at the Marbella Football Centre on Monday evening, Louise Quinn captaining the side - and scoring - on the occasion of her 100th cap.
It was, well, a game of three thirds, the middle part a tale of frustration for Ireland against what was effectively the Moroccan B team which featured just one of the side that reached July’s Africa Cup of Nations final, injuries and African Champions League commitments depriving them of most of their regulars.
In contrast, Vera Pauw named her strongest possible team that showed just one change from the starting line-up in last month’s World Cup play-off victory over Scotland in Glasgow. Amber Barrett, the match-winning substitute that night, came in for Heather Payne who was unavailable due to college commitments in Florida.
Ireland found themselves 2-0 up after just seven minutes, Megan Campbell curling home a shot from the right of the box, with just 90 seconds on the clock when Denise O’Sullivan played her through. Katie McCabe then doubled the lead when her weakly struck penalty, which she earned herself after being fouled by Rkia Mazrouai, somehow found its way under goalkeeper Assia Zouhair.
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By then, it looked like Morocco could suffer a mauling on a par with Georgia’s 11-0 trouncing in Tallaght a year ago, but Ireland became sloppy, too many stray passes ceding possession to their opponents, who grew in confidence.
They came close to pulling a goal back on 19 minutes when a slip by Quinn let Salma Amani in, but she swept her shot just wide of the left post.
Fresh from winning the double with Shelbourne, 17-year-old Abbie Larkin came on for Jamie Finn for the second half, while another teenager, Wexford Youths’ Aoibheann Clancy, was given her debut when she was introduced with half-an-hour to go.
Both brought an energy to the Irish performance that saw them up their game, McCabe’s beautifully struck free-kick tipped over the bar by Zouhair, the goalkeeper then making a brilliant reflex save from Barrett’s close range effort.
Ireland’s reward came, though, for their much improved final third efforts with two goals in four minutes.
The first came from Quinn when Amani’s attempted clearance from a McCabe free-kick rebounded off the defender and in to the goal.
And then Kyra Carusa marked her 27th birthday with her second international goal, meeting Aine O’Gorman’s superb cross from the right with a diving glancing header.
“We are very happy with the win, a clean sheet again,” said manager Vera Pauw after the game, “but you will not hear me say we have played our best game - because we didn’t.”
“I’m not pleased with the game, but what a brilliant year we had, so having such highs, it’s so difficult to reach your levels again. But the week was very good, we needed it to get from that high into our plans for the World Cup. For me personally it was a difficult week because I was really really ill, I’m happy that I’m up again, I feel much better,” she said.
Pauw, meanwhile, ruled out any hope of Jess Ziu and Ellen Molloy recovering in time from their ACL injuries to be contenders for her World Cup squad, but admitted she is not yet dismissing the efforts of players now applying for their Irish passports in the hope of getting late call-ups for the tournament.
But, she said, “We only bring them in if we feel they are better than what we have.”
Ireland: C Brosnan; J Finn (A Larkin, 45), N Fahey, L Quinn, D Caldwell (H Nolan, 79), M Campbell (C Mustaki, 62); A O’Gorman, L Agg; D O’Sullivan (A Clancy, 62), K McCabe, A Barrett (K Carusa, 62).
Morocco: A Zouhair; S Seghir, M Atiq, M Yasmin, R Mazrouai; E Nakkach (H Jbilou), S Daoudi (I Ibtissam, 76), D Ouzraoui, S Bouftini (I Saoud, 59); S Amani, A Belkasmi.
Referee: Jason Lee Barcelo (Gibraltar).
