Ireland lose to Wales in Women’s friendly

Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

Wales secured a surprise but well-deserved 2-0 away victory against The Republic of Ireland in front of record crowd in Dublin.

A record crowd for a Women’s match in Ireland of 8,218 was in attendance in the redeveloped Tallaght Stadium.

The Welsh got off to the perfect start by opening the scoring after only seven minutes. Irish keeper Brosnan made a decent save following a corner kick. However the ball was not cleared properly and was put back into the box for 37-year old striker Jess Fishlock to divert it into the net for Wales.

It was double trouble soon after for the Irish with Welsh full back Lily Woodham hitting a sweetly struck shot past Brosnan into the top corner to make it 2-0 after 22 minutes.

Ireland’s manager Eileen Gleeson changed the formation in the second half from a back four to a back three which seemed to help the home side. However despite decent efforts from Little John and Hayes, The Girls in Green couldn’t get back into the game.

Irish manager Gleeson admitted after the match.

“I think there’s lots to learn. In the first half we simply made it hard work for ourselves.”

Attention now switches for both side to the Euro 2025 qualifying draw on Tuesday.

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