RTÉ panel question Ireland’s attacking strategy in World Cup opener loss

Simon Kelly

Karen Duggan said it was “not a tactic.”

The Republic of Ireland’s Women’s World Cup opener ultimately ended in bitter disappointment, despite a spirited second-half performance, as Australia managed to hold on to a 1-0 win by the skin of their teeth in Sydney.

Vera Pauw’s team rallied in the final half hour, creating excellent chances through some well-worked set pieces, however, they were unable to capitalise on a shaky Australian defence on Thursday in Sydney.

Much has been said about Ireland’s potential weaknesses going forward and while the chances were there to be taken advantage of, ultimately the lack of an outlet up front made the job extremely difficult on the night.

Mackenzie Arnold of Australia and Kyra Carusa of Republic of Ireland compete for the ball

RTÉ panel question Ireland’s attacking strategy in World Cup opener loss.

Speaking after the match, members of the RTÉ panel criticised Ireland’s strategy going forward, with Pauw’s decision not to bring on World Cup qualifying star Amber Barrett proving questionable.

“Ireland pushing Louise Quinn up front was, for me, not a tactic and more done out of hope,” Karen Duggan said, pointing to Pauw’s decision to stick the 33-year-old defender up top in the final moments of the game, after a huge performance at the back.

Richie Sadlier agreed with Duggan and said he found it strange that Barrett did not come on for the final 20 minutes, especially as the Australians were getting pinned back.

Barrett herself said before the tournament started that she expected to be a substitute rather than a starter.

“Of course, I want to start, but at the end of the day, playing is the most important thing. So, would I rather not start and not play or would I rather come off the bench in as many games?

“People feel a wee bit insecure about the ‘super-sub’ label but at the end of the day, it doesn’t bother me one bit because I think I have proven – six of the seven goals I have scored for Ireland I have scored off the bench, so I will take that with me.”

Ireland lacking up front, but showed a lot of fight.

Vera Pauw spoke to RTÉ after the match about putting pressure on the Matildas’ towards the end of the game by pushing Louise Quinn up top.

“We brought on Abbey [Larkin] and Lucy [Quinn] to get more pressure forward, to have fresh legs there and they came on very very well. At the end, you could see we could put more pressure on them with Louise up front. You need to have a little bit of luck.”

Ireland captain Katie McCabe added, “Of course, we want to improve our final third entries and getting shots away at goal but we’ll be looking to recover now and then push on for Canada.”

Ireland face Canada in their next group game on Wednesday in Perth.