The Republic of Ireland Women’s Under 19 side made the perfect start to the Women’s Under 19 UEFA Championship, 1st Phase Qualifying Phase in Slovakia as they ran out 4-0 victors over their hosts in their opening game of the tournament.
From the kick-off, the Irish dominated proceedings with long periods of possession and a string of fine passing movements. Jennifer Critchley was unlucky not to open her account after five minutes when she pounced on a deflected corner only to see her effort palmed away by the despairing Slovakia keeper.
The Republic of Ireland caused a lot of problems for the Slovakia defence from set pieces in the opening ten minutes and the Irish penalised the defence for their slack defending from corners when Susan Hackett’s goal-bound header was blocked on the line by the Slovakia keeper and Aoife Herbert was on hand to hook the ball home from close range.
With soaring temperatures and high humidity, Susan Ronan’s side controlled the pace of the game and were it not for the heroics of the Slovakia goalkeeper, the Irish may have put the outcome of this game beyond all doubt early on.
The Irish were two up after 36 minutes when Aoife Herbert headed a clever looping ball over the Slovakia defence to Aine O’ Gorman who judged her run to perfection to beat the offside trap, O’Gorman made no mistake as she slotted the ball past the despairing keeper.
In the second half, the Irish struggled to take a firm grip on the game. Republic of Ireland sweeper, Catriona McGilp marshalled her defence and cut out all advances from the Slovakia attackers.
Aine O’ Gorman scored the decisive goal on 75 minutes to kill off any hope of a Slovakia revival. In a near carbon-copy of her earlier effort when Aoife Herbert played a diagonal long ball over the Slovakia defence to the on-rushing O’Gorman who was left with a one-on-one with the keeper, the Senior International coolly finished off the wonderful move with a fine strike.
The Stella Maris midfielder bagged her hat-trick after 82 minutes when Hannah Barrett flicked a sublime pass through to Meabh de Burca on the edge of the Slovakia box, who teed up the shot for O’Gorman who drilled in Ireland’s fourth.
Republic of Ireland manager, Susan Ronan was understandably delighted after her side’s performance, “It is always vital to get a good start in these UEFA Qualifiers and to beat the host nation in front of a strong home support is fantastic for our players.”
She Added, “We knew this would be a tough group with Slovakia, Bulgaria and Italy but we have set it up nicely for ourselves and we know that our fate lies in our own hands.”
Women’s Under 19 UEFA Championship Qualifying Phase Group 10: Results Slovakia 0-4 Republic of Ireland Italy 6-0 Bulgaria
Women’s Under 19 UEFA Championship Qualifying Phase Group 10: Fixtures Thursday 28th September Republic of Ireland v Bulgaria MFK Vranov nad Topl’ou, Kick-off: 11.00 hrs (local time)
Sunday 1st October Republic of Ireland v Italy HFC Humenné, Kick-off 11.00 hrs (local time)
Republic of Ireland Team Lyn Bradley (Raheny) Catriona McGilp (Cabinteely) Grace Murray (Dundalk) Susan Hackett (Stella Maris) Lyn-Marie Grant (Lifford) Aoife Herbert (Ballina Town) Meabh De Burca (Salthill Devon) Jennifer Critchley (Lifford) Aine O’Gorman (Stella Maris) Seana Cooke (Arsenal) Diane Caldwell (Hofstra University)
Subs Niamh Reid-Burke (St. Mochtas) Christina Byrne (Raheny) On for Lyn Marie Grant 45 Mins Hannah Barrett (Fulham) On for Jennifer Critchley 77 Mins Michelle Glynn (Mervue United) Stephanie Roche (Stella Maris) On for Christina Byrne 60 Mins Rachel Graham (Raheny) Noelle Murray (Raheny)
Manager Susan Ronan |