Gavin Cooney reports from Stade Saint-Symphorien, Metz

Some encouragement in defeat

And so Ireland troop home from Metz, still stuck in the realm of honourable defeat.

We hold this truth to be self-evident: the Euro qualifier draw is a joke, and seedings based off the inaugural Nations League meant Ireland were dropped into a group with France, England, and Sweden, all of whom are in the top six of Fifa’s world rankings.  The safety net of the play-offs is a relief and, truthfully, it will be required, even if Ireland can travel home with plenty of encouragement.

Ireland relapsed into something pretty similar to the dowdy efficiencies of Vera Pauw’s gameplan, sitting deep and compact in a 5-4-1 to largely frustrate France.  Comparatively, France’s strength in depth is absurd: they introduced their captain and their record scorer off the bench against Ireland.

And while Courtney Brosnan made a string of impressive saves and Eugénie Le Sommer angled a header off the crossbar, Ireland did not spend the entire game under siege. 

“That one result won’t define the whole campaign and we can’t look at it like that”, said Eileen Gleeson after the game. “We know it was a 1-1 draw in the other game in the group and I think that’s going to be a picture across the group where teams will take points off each other, so we can’t be detrimental about one result here tonight. We have to build on the performance. We knew it was going to be tough and it was tough, but I feel like the girls gave a good performance.”

Ireland have proved before and proved again last night that they are committed and awkward opponents who will scrap for everything they can get. They are the underdogs but neither England nor Sweden will be too thrilled at the prospect of trying to break Ireland down.   

Off-colour O’Sullivan sums up Ireland’s blunt attack 

What we didn’t see from Ireland was any obvious dynamism in attack. 

Ultimately, the French goalkeeper did not have a save to make, and Ireland managed just a single shot across 90 minutes. It wasn’t even in target. 

The strategy to counter-attack was sound enough, and Kyra Carusa’s aerial work in the first-half was admirable. But too often Ireland let themselves down with their final ball, and, surprisingly, that inaccuracy spread to Denise O’Sullivan too. 

She was curiously off-colour in Metz: L’Equipe’s characteristically parsimonious player ratings awarded her a three out of 10. 

A moment right at the end of the first-half summed it up. O’Sullivan pinched the ball from centre-back Maelle Lakrar, from where O’Sullivan carried the ball into the space vacated by the French defender. Carusa, meanwhile sprinted forward in support and into the space, but O’Sullivan’s pass was overhit, and a good chance was wasted. 

Megan Campbell was introduced at half-time and her long throws were one means of pressure, but truthfully, the French were not panicked in dealing with them.

McCabe is liberated to play higher up the pitch 

A back five crouching deep and a meagre attacking plan: casual viewers will be forgiven for thinking Vera Pauw was still in charge. While much of the formula was similar, there was one important difference: Gleeson did not pick Katie McCabe at left wing-back. 

Instead, Aoife Mannion played there, with Heather Payne on the opposite side, with Louise Quinn, Caitlin Hayes, and Anna Patten in between. McCabe played further up he left side, which should have made Ireland a more serious attacking force. 

McCabe, however, didn’t meet her own high standards – L’Equipe also gave her a three out of 10 – and Ireland butchered the one chance they had of getting her within shooting range. McCabe pressured the French keeper and forced her to fluff her clearance, which resulted in Leanne Kiernan in possession on the right wing. McCabe was completely unmarked in the middle of the box, but Kiernan didn’t see her, and instead thumped a woeful cross out of play. McCabe fell to her knees and she thumped the turf in frustration. 

Had Kiernan played the pass, McCabe would likely have scored, and it would have been sweet vindication for one of Gleeson’s biggest changes. Instead, it’s the game’s chief source of regret. 

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“Katie is there and potentially she plays her in and we’re 1-1″, reflected Gleeson. “But yeah, we’ll be looking at that and reviewing it. When these moments happen you can be shouting as much as you want from the sideline, but she doesn’t pick it out.”

A sloppy way to lose 

Playing away to France is difficult enough without presenting them an early goal. How maddening for Ireland that they were undone so meekly, as Marie-Antoinette Katoto tapped in from a yard out from a set-piece. 

Heather Payne struggled against the brilliant Delphine Cascarino all night – Gleeson swapped Mannion to that side at the break but the change probably should have been made earlier – and she conceded a cheap free-kick which Ireland then failed to defend. First Lakrar rose unchallenged at the back post, and then Katoto was unmarked to tap in from close range. 

“These are the areas we talk about, it didn’t get organised quickly enough”, said Gleeson. “The second ball didn’t get picked up. We conceded that early which is annoying and disappointing for us and the girls.”