WELCOME ALL TO our live coverage of Ireland’s final World Cup qualifier of this group, away to Slovakia. 

The game is freighted with some meaning but it’s happily not make or break. Last win’s win against Finland means Ireland are guaranteed the group’s runners-up spot and a place in a play-off system so complex it makes the Kerry county championship look straightforward. 

The permutations are pretty clear for Ireland tonight, however. If they win tonight, Ireland will be among the three best-ranked runners-up, and so will get a bye to the second round of the play-offs, and will have to play one game less on the road to Australia and New Zealand next year. 

There’s some more permutations to come – but for now, just know that kick-off is at 5pm and you can follow all of the action here on The42. 

You can email me with your comments/questions at gavincooney@the42.ie, or leave a comment below the line. 

Team news follows next!

Team News 

Republic of Ireland 

Vera Pauw makes three changes to the side that beat Finland on that tear-drenched night in Tallaght last week. All of the changes are enforced, with Megan Connolly and Ruesha Littlejohn injured while Jamie Finn is suspended. 

Connolly is replaced in the back three by Clare O’Riordan, making her first start since 2018. Lily Agg, the goalscoring hero against Finland, makes her first competitive start for Ireland in place of Littlejohn. 

Harriet Scott, who plays her club football with Birmingham City, lines out at right-wing back instead of Finn, making her first start since October 2020. Scott wasn’t included in the matchday squad against the Finns.

IRELAND: Courtney Brosnan; Harriet Scott, Claire O’Riordan, Louise Quinn, Diane Caldwell, Megan Connolly; Jess Ziu, Denise O’Sullivan, Lily Agg, Katie McCabe; Heather Payne.
SLOVAKIA: Maria Korenciova; Kristína Košíková, Jana Vojteková, Diana Lemešová, Patricia Fischerova, Andrea Horvathova; L’udmila Mat’aková, Dominika Škorvánková, Mária Mikolajová, Martina Šurnovská; Patrícia Hmírová.

The Slovakian presser was at X-Bionic Sphere, Samorin, an impressive sport and leisure resort and home to Peter Kopúň’s side for this camp. It was an interesting interview, the manager speaking through an interpreter but chit-chatting in decent English when the tapes stopped recording afterwards. He praised Ireland, but not too much, bullish as he targets a win over Group A’s “dark horse”. This evening’s game could be Kopúň’s last as manager as his contract comes to an end, but he seemed hopeful for more as he reflected on the development of this team. There’s a noticeable lack of support, though. In Bratislava, or indeed Senec, you wouldn’t know there’s a World Cup qualifier on. Asked how much of a crowd there’ll be tomorrow, the manager sighed: “I would say in Slovakia the numbers are more or less the same for every match, we at least expect them to come in more or less the same numbers that they would normally come.” 563 fans attended their home game against Sweden earlier in the campaign, not a patch on the crowds at Tallaght Stadium of late. Tickets are understood to be €1.

Our own Emma Duffy is in Slovakia – read her primer piece here. 

This game is not exactly happening in a bear-pit.

It’s at Slovakia’s National Training Centre, meaning Ireland will round out the campaign in an atmosphere about as intimidating as a UCD home game. 

Vera Pauw might see a couple of ghosts amid the gaps in the crowd, as it was here that her reign as Netherlands came to an end in 2010. 

Last time out…

Slovakia have the distinction of being part of Ireland’s worst game of the group so far, drawing 1-1 at Tallaght in the group’s early stages. Slovakia took the lead, but Ireland equalised through, you guessed it., Katie McCabe. 

Slovakia have beaten Georgia home and away and they also took a point in a game against Finland, which greatly helped Ireland, who, in fairness, took control of their own destiny, too. 

Permutations corner 

Okay – are you ready? 

There are nine groups in the European section of qualifying, with the group winners qualifying directly for the World Cup. 

The nine runners-up go to the play-offs, with two spots on offer at the World Cup. The three best-ranked of those runners-up go get a bye through the first round of these play-offs, so that’s what Ireland are playing for tonight. 

So if Ireland win, they can put their feet up as six sides will play off in one-off games to decide who qualifies for the second round. 

A draw tonight will leave Ireland needing a complex – and unlikely – set of results to go their way, and defeat will snuff out those hopes entirely. 

In the second round of the play-offs, the six teams will be drawn into single, one-off ties against eachother. There will be three winners left standing after that, but only two will go straight to the World Cup. Thus the two winners with the best overall record  – so the play-off result + the record in the group – will go straight to the World Cup. 

The side left standing will have to go to New Zealand to play a mini-tournament against sides from all corners of the world to earn one of three remaining places at the World Cup. We’ll worry about that if we have to go that far. 

TL;DR: Win tonight, and Ireland may have to win just one game to go to the World Cup. Don’t win, and they’ll have to play at least two. 

Okay, the sides are lining up, as a tinny Irish anthem reverbs about an empty little stadium at Slovakia’s version of Abbottstown. What a weird atmosphere for such a big game. 

Peeeeeeep! 

We are underway in Slovakia. 

1′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Ireland immediately win a throw-in, which is the equivalent of a corner with Megan Campbell’s ability to sling the ball into the box like a comet shooting across the sky. 

She winds up and launches it for Louise Quinn, but Slovakia scramble it clear. 

2′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Claire O’Riordan launches a ball down the line that Heather Payne flatters by brilliantly winning the ball back on the endline. She turns back and finds O’Riordan behind her, whose first-time cross is punched clear by the goalkeeper.

Good tempo to the Irish start. 

4′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland

Courtney Brosnan is alert to a nice through ball for striker Patricia Hmirova – her starting position was advanced, and really good. She instantly rolls the ball out wide left to kick-off an Irish move: again this tempo is good, given the total absence of atmosphere. 

7′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland

Campbell slings another throw into the box but Slovakia clear as far as Campbell again, whose cross from a nearby spot is really good, narrowly missing Payne. Slovakia, flustered, clear. 

12′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Ireland’s confident start here is far removed from the clammy, edgy opening minutes against Finland last week. They are popping the ball around nicely, though their final ball is letting themselves down at times: Jess Ziu the latest to misplace a final-third pass. 

13′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Much of Ireland’s play is coming down their right flank, and, interestingly, it’s on this side that Katie McCabe is playing. She hits a gorgeous switch of play to Campbell on the left, who has loads of space to cross into the box, which Slovakia once again defend. 

15′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

McCabe has gone back to the left side: perhaps it was a bit of improvisation on her part that brought her to the other flank, rather than any instruction from Vera Pauw. 

19′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

After a very scrappy spell, Ireland win a free-kick on the right flank, inside the Slovak half. McCabe’s set-piece falls short, but Ireland recycle and McCabe stands a cross up and on top of the Slovak goalkeeper, which she does well to hold under pressure. 

Ireland the better side thus far without really creating a whole lot. 

22′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

The game’s first shot comes from Slovakia’s captain, Dominika Skorvankova, but it flies wide of Brosnan’s post from distance. Ireland’s preppy start has stalled a little, and the game has become a lot scrappier. 

23′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Megan Campbell fools everyone by taking a throw-in short, which results in O’Riordan hoiking a long, straight ball into the box, for which Quinn competes. The result is a ball kindly breaking to McCabe, whose shot from the edge of the box keeps the Slovak keeper honest. She gathers at her near post, and Ireland have their first shot. 

25′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Slovakia take the goal’s first corner, after Scott overcooks a backpass for Brosnan. Quinn stoops to head the corner clear, and Ireland have a counter-attacking opportunity, but Payne plays the ball too far ahead of Denise O’Sullivan. Better to have Payne chasing those types of passes rather than playing them. 

27′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Much better from Ireland. O’Sullivan feeds the ball up the line for McCabe, who takes the ball into the penalty area, where she wins a corner before she can pick out O’Sullivan or Payne. 

Agg met McCabe’s corner but didn’t get a full connection on it, with Ziu fetching possession before it rolls out of play. She passes to Payne, whose cross is met by Denise O’Sullivan, who sees her shot blocked in the box. 

31′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

McCabe loses and then wins the ball back on the left touchline, drives to the endline, but her pull-back is tame and easily claimed by Slovakia. 

But they clear for a throw-in, so here we go once again…

33′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

…Campbell’s latest bullet is cleared once again. 

Another wave of play ends in an Irish corner: again McCabe is involved on the left wing. Her growing influence in this game is very encouraging. 

34′ – Slovakia 0-0 Ireland 

Big chance. McCabe’s corner is deep and met by Quinn at the back post, she measures her knock-down to the six-yard box well, and Diane Caldwell volleys wide.  

GOAL! 

36′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

There’s the lead for Ireland! Jess Ziu wins the ball back from a Slovakia throw, and pops the ball ahead for O’Sullivan. She drives forward, slips the ball through for Payne, whose pull-back is toed by defender Diana Lemesova. Her contact doesn’t clear the ball, though, and O’Sullivan pounces, swivels, and fires first-time into the bottom corner! 

38′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Ireland are in Senec to avoid the play-off’s scenic route: a win here will mean they might only need to win one game to make the World Cup. 

That’s a deserved lead for Ireland: they haven’t been relentless by any measure, but they have slowly been squeezing the life out of Slovakia over the last 10 minutes ago. 

Now – will they sit back and hold what they have, or keep on attacking? 

39′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

The early signs as they’ll sit back. Ireland drop off into a pretty low block, and Lemesova lets fly from range, albeit right at Brosnan. 

O’Sullivan/McCabe is the Irish version of Bale/Ramsey. 

That's O'Sullivan's sixth goal of the campaign - one behind Katie McCabe. No one else in Group A has scored as many as the two Irish stars (3 Swedes and a Slovak on 4 goals each)

— Mark McCadden (@markmccadden) September 6, 2022

42′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Another Campbell long throw forces a corner, which McCabe will take. The corner, from the right-hand side this time, is an in-swinger: it cuts a gorgeous arc through the air and is about to seriously trouble the goalkeeper before the referee whistles for a foul.

Here’s the goal that has Ireland ahead in Slovakia. 

THERE IT IS!
Denise O'Sullivan with the finish after a break by Jess Ziu left Heather Payne with the chance to cutback to the in-form midfielder#rtesoccer #SVKIRL
📺 Watch - https://t.co/aR8cFzAlWf
📻 Listen - https://t.co/pKRq9dYQiN
📱 Updates - https://t.co/TYLVoUyJ72 pic.twitter.com/0ZryFNcvZu

— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 6, 2022

44′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Campbell takes a long throw from the touchline by the benches for the first time. There’s not a whole lot of room to move, so she starts with her back pressed against the concrete wall, winds up, and launches it into the box. It’s defended raggedly but defended nonetheless, and McCabe follows up the rebound by shooting narrowly wide. 

HT: Slovakia 0-1 Ireland

Ireland are on course to be one of the best runners-up and skip the first round of the play-offs. This has been a good, controlled performance, garnished by Denise O’Sullivan’s 37th-minute goal. 

Slovakia haven’t troubled Courtney Brosnan at all, and Ireland look the likelier to score the second goal. 

This looks good! Ireland are 45 minutes away from their target – we’ll be back in a few. 

Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

Peeeeep! 

We are underway in the second half! No half-time changes, unsurprisingly. 

47′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

O’Sullivan muscles her way onto the ball in midfield, sends the ball ahead to McCabe, who ghosts by a defender. Her low, whipped cross can’t quite pick out Ziu or Payne in the box. 

52′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Slovakia’s main method of dealing with Katie McCabe thus far has been to foul her. The latest comes on the touchline. 

Heather Payne, meanwhile, has come out with her knee strapped, but she doesn’t seem to be too encumbered by it. 

53′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Campbell wins the ball back, McCabe is upended by the corner flag…and is penalised for a foul. 

Slovakia are not playing at the pace of a side desperate to win here, it has to be said. 

56′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Brosnan comes out of her penalty area to sweep up another ball in behind: her starting positioning on those balls in behind has been really good so far. 

58′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Ireland have lifted their foot from the pedal and Slovakia haven’t yet shown the ability to take an initiative Ireland have left for them. It’s fairly drab stuff at the moment. 

59′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Oh, McCabe goes close to her best goal of the campaign. Another Campbell throw is cleared to the edge of the box, where it sits up perfectly for McCabe to volley the ball first time, but it dips just over the crossbar. 

61′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Lemesova goes into the book for cleaning out McCabe with a tackle. She flew in high with studs up and, while winning the ball, followed through and left McCabe in a heap. Yellow was generous. 

63′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

McCabe now gesturing at her team-mates to calm down, after Ireland give the ball away with an aimless long ball. There’s been a few too many of those in this second half: Ireland’s play has lost direction. 

65′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

McCabe is down again: this time Jana Vojtekova shunts into her with with a shoulder. The referee doesn’t give a foul, and McCabe gingerly picks herself back up. A minute later some frustration shows, as she is pinged for pulling back an opponent. 

A change for Ireland: Harriet Scott makes way for Ellen Molloy. 

68′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Now McCabe has gone to the right side of the Irish attack, with Jess Ziu repurposed as a right wing-back with Scott making way. 

69′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Lily Agg loses possession in midfield, and another long-range Slovak effort loops off Quinn and behind for a corner. 

70′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

the corner is really well defender by Caldwell at the back post, where she was isolated against a Slovakia attacker. Slovakia get another corner, this time from the opposite side, but it sails into the side-netting. Ireland have totally lost their way in this second half. 

72′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Good hold-up play by Molloy by the corner flag, she goes back to Campbell who cuts in off the left and wins a free-kick. Much better from Molloy, who showed a kind of patience in possession that has been missing in this second half. 

73′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Off the line! 

McCabe’s free-kick is hoisted to the back post, which Agg meets before the goalkeeper, leaving her nowhere, and Clare O’Riordan’s fires a first-time shot that’s blocked away by Patricia Fischerova. 

75′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Magnificent toil from Payne. She wins the ball back, battles through a challenge down the left wing, takes the ball to the endline, and, though still under pressure, gets her cross into the box, where it’s held by the goalkeeper. 

77′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland

Ireland have stepped it up again. O’Sullivan slides a brilliant through ball for McCabe, but the goalkeeper rushes out and hacks clear…via a deflection off McCabe that is just not strong enough to break Ireland’s way. 

McCabe is then, you won’t be surprised to hear, fouled, and Ireland have another set piece, but O’Riordan is pinged for a foul as McCabe flights the cross into the box. 

80′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Ouch. Morakova is booked for sending a flying elbow – perhaps accidentally – into Megan Campbell’s face as she challenges for a pass Caldwell left slightly short. 

82′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Campbell follows up with a magnificent tackle on the very same player, stopping a cross. 

Leanne Kiernan is brought off the bench, replacing Heather Payne, whose work-rate was astonishing. 

84′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Moravkova is making an impact: she gets the ball in a half-space a few yards from the box, and tries an audacious lob which flies over the crossbar. 

86′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Agg drops a lovely ball over the Slovak defence for Kiernan, and again the goalkeeper comes out to win the ball. Her clearance is miscued but it doesn’t quite break for Kiernan, and Slovakia clear their lines. 

88′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Moravkava, a substitute, is making a nonsense of her not starting. She skips by Campbell down the Irish left and counters, pulling a clever pass across the edge of the box which the backtracking Molloy does well to intercept. 

Slovakia then stand a cross into the box that Brosnan claims with confidence. 

89′ – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Oh Kiernan is almost in one-on-one in the box, after the defender’s clearance cannons back off her, but the ricochet just doesn’t break her way. 

Three additional minutes – Ireland are so close now. 

90+1 – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Slovakia put another cross into the box that Quinn charges to the edge of the box to clear, and the shot that returns Brosnan’s way is tame, and dribbles wide. 

Ireland will take their time over the goalkick…

90 +2 – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Ireland get caught with three players ahead of the ball, but Slovakia aren’t good enough to make the most of the counter attack, launching the ball long and into Brosnan’s arms. 

FT – Slovakia 0-1 Ireland 

Job done! Denise O’Sullivan’s first-half goal means Ireland will finish as one of the three best runners-up in Europe, and so will get to skip the first round of the play-offs. 

It’s a complex system – but this means Ireland might need just one game to qualify for the World Cup. 

11 October is the date of Ireland’s play-off, and the draw is on Friday. 

Thanks for following, reaction from Senec to come. 

Bye!