SAVANNAH MCCARTHY’S TWEET following the Republic of Ireland’s international friendly win over Australia on Tuesday night said it all:
“Been a long five years but delighted to be back involved with the girls,” the Galway WFC defender wrote. “Great performance all round, big thanks to our fans amazing from start to finish.”
McCarthy ended a lengthy wait for a sixth senior international cap by starting for the Vera Pauw’s side and putting in a massive shift in defence.
One particular highlight was a double-block on the goal-line, denying two big chances; that cameo highlighting her strength and tenacity.
“The last time I played was in 2016 so it was good to be back in,” she said afterwards. “It was a long time, the main thing for me was to work hard at my club, train hard every week and wait for the opportunity and thankfully Vera trusted me.
“I was always hopeful I could get back in, I felt if you were playing well for your club Vera would be watching and your chance would come and that’s what happened.”
Been a long 5 years but delighted to be back involved with the girls . Great performance all round big thanks to our fans amazing from start to finish 🇮🇪☘️💚 pic.twitter.com/FQgxpoa4GP
— Savannah McCarthy (@SavannaMc3) September 22, 2021
The Kerry native, who returned to the Women’s National League [WNL] in 2018 after a short stint with Glasgow City, was delighted to play a central role in ending a seven-game winless streak.
And they did so in style against the Matildas in their final run-out before their 2023 World Cup qualifying campaign belatedly opens next month and against top-class opposition.
“It was brilliant, the most important thing was the win,” 24-year-old McCarthy, who has also played for Cork City recently, added.
We were just concentrating on our own game, going out there to put on a good performance, especially with the fans back, they were our 12th man and really pushed us all the way.
“We conceded two and we could have done better but to score three was brilliant. We will look back and see where we can do better and bring that into the qualifiers.”
The victory over high-flying Australia, ranked 22 places above them in the Fifa World Rankings, comes as a massive shot in the arm and confidence boost before the Road to Australia and New Zealand 2023 begins.
The Girls In Green are in Group A, and open their qualifying bid against heavyweights Sweden, who are ranked second in the world, on 21 October. They then face second seeds Finland in a hugely important clash a few short days later, with Slovakia and Georgia also in their pool.
“It’s amazing but we needed that, we knew we needed a win to take into the qualifiers. Australia are unbelievable, you could see the other night they are a very good team, but we showed we can compete with anyone once we put our minds to it.
They are a brilliant side, you can see why they are 11th ranked, they’re not there for no reason. Sweden next will be tough but this was as good a test as you can get. We got the win and [if] we take that confidence into the next month, we won’t fear anyone.”
Listowel star McCarthy hailed the “younger players” in the squad who are really making their mark and their newest star, Lucy Quinn, who was “exceptional” on her debut after declaring for Ireland.
English-born Quinn, likewise, was pleased to play her part in snapping the losing streak.
“That’s something that I was aware of. I know the girls have been working really hard and haven’t necessarily got what they deserved out of those games. It’s definitely a run that we wanted to end tonight. The win was the most important thing, so just over the moon that we got that as a team.”
Watched the game. I have to say, I sometimes questioned some of the refereee’s decisions during the game (such as multiple high tackles before a yellow card was given).
But I beg to ask what is going on with Connacht. They lost just 2 players form the championship winning team last season, but they’ve lost control of their own basics and skills that made them so successful.
A complete lack of a pre season was a factor, the last 5 minutes sum this up.
Yeah, pre-season couldn’t have gone much worse for them
Maybe a bit of credit to Glasgow and the Ospreys
They both played extremely well
Always felt last seasons pro12 was seriously skewed by the world cup. Teams like ospreys & glasgow really werent at their best. Whereas connacht & scarlets made hay, both are 0-2 so far now. Hope its not a sign of things to come. Although to be fair its been a tough start to the season.
I would expect both to get top 4 with Leinster and Ulster the favourites to be there with them. Improved performance this week from the team but a bad pre-season, injuries and teams becoming more aware in how to play us has been the main factors in our poor start. The defence has been really poor in both games conceding tries from our own half which we weren’t doing for the majority of last season. The half back pairing in both games have been very poor, Marmion seems to have regressed from where he was about 2 seasons ago and Carty’s kicking is a liability at this stage nowhere near good enough for this level, Boshoff cant come soon enough and I would probably go with SO’L in the mean time. It’s still early and we played two excellent teams so I wouldn’t be pushing any panic buttons yet and with Zebre up next we should stop the rot with a win next week.
Makes you worry about Aki’s decision in the summer.
What decision was that?
To head home or speculate about his future or something I missed?
What decision? He was always under contract. No decision to make until next year.
I don’t think the losses of McGinty and Muldowney can be understated. Henshaw is obviously a big loss too (Griffin has been poor so far) but those two were central to launching our attacks last year and were massive defensively. The lack of a proper preseason and the injury list doesn’t help either. Most of the lads looked goosed after an hour tonight.
What gives with that bad pre season? I would have thought preparation wpuld have been meticulous under Pat?
Two of the teams they were supposed to play pulled out.
Not uncommon for surprise champions to have an indifferent start to the season now that they’re the ones to beat. It’s only round 2 of 22 though so it’s a bit early to hold crisis talks but Connacht need to pick it up for the next game.
Connacht need to up their game fast ahead of the ERC
When Connacht were winning last year we barely got a mention in the journal…. Leinster got off to bad start too last year,,,,,, it’ll be grand, they’ll regroup and turn it around…. To early to be in a panic
Poor support from fans again tonight though!
How was it poor support most fans stayed until the end and clapped the players off tonight and 5.7k is a decent crowd for the start of the season.
Fitness is the key issue here, those last 2 tries sum this up, taking the ball in there own half and essentially running over for a try. Zebre couldn’t have come at a better time.
At this stage the top 6 looks far superior to the bottom 6.
They’re really missing henshaw
Muldowney and mcginty not hensaw
@bmul, Dont be silly Henshaw was one of Connachts best players last season. Of course he will be missed!
Henshaw missed most of the Pro 12 games last season. Actually think Muldowney a much bigger loss.
Maybe you should check how many games hensaw played
Such a lengthy match report without mentioning the final score. Did your reporter leave early to file his copy?
Lack of decent preseason training games have hurt them badly but let’s not lose the run of ourselves here. They had a terrible game but showed glimpses of last seasons quality in the first match and made massive improvements to this match. Next week I’ll put money on them winning or at least it being a very tight scoreline and I don’t even know who they’re playing right now. It’s game 2. They didn’t go unbeaten last season either and won it. No need for alarm bells, and this from a leinster supporter. Cudn’t have been happier with a defeat last season, look forward to some great local derby games this year.
For conspiracy theorists 2 Welsh refs 2 games! For honesty missing MacGinty and Aly abilities to defend and force attack. Skills still there fitness improving. O’Leary should be given a chance now. Muls needs help can’t lead the team on his own so far personally I’ve not seen anyone step up to the plate to do so . If there’s leaders there they need to show themselves now before we actually do have a crisis.