World Cup: So much progress is heartening

THE dream was to get there, everything else was a bonus, and to be fair, the Irish team did themselves proud in one of the toughest, if not toughest, groups of the World Cup. And but for a bit of bad luck, may well have found a way to have exceeded all our expectations.

The first ever goal and first point in a World Cup was achieved during their tournament debut. And were just a shot or two wide, against Canada, from garnering the nation’s first women’s World Cup win too.

The excursion Down Under may have proved unsuccessful in terms of advancing into the next round. But the experience gained, and inspiration provided to young players back home is invaluable for the future of the game.

The team is certainly progressing at an unbelievable pace and no sooner had they collected their first World Cup point then they were at the stage of the team captain falling out with the manager. It took the men’s team three World Cups to get to that point. But seriously, whatever the issues are with Vera Pauw and Katie McCabe, let’s hope it won’t be toxic for the overall project of advancing the game.

Returning to the positives, as for all tournaments, Irish teams have competed in, the overall feel-good effect of qualification and partaking has been immense. And great credit also needs to go to the travelling, and in-situ Irish in Australia for their excellent support. Where would Irish teams be, in any sport, without the immense backing of our incredible fan base?

In return, they were rewarded with some brilliant memories and here are some of the Irish highlights I took from the tournament.

Even before the tournament kicked off we had the drama of Denise O’Sullivan’s fearful shin injury in the warm-up friendly against Colombia. Already minus a few key players due to injury, the fear was that we would lose the talismanic O’Sullivan. An especially big concern in her native Cork. Thankfully the injury proved not as serious as was feared and O’Sullivan played a full and useful role in all three Ireland games.

Such was the quality of the performances across the squad it is hard to pinpoint an individual effort most important to the team.

O’Sullivan, as we said was always active and pushing forward, but often was left isolated due to the needs of the defensive requirements of the team.

Speaking of defence, the backs were probably Ireland’s greatest strength. With Niamh Fahey and Louise Quinn putting in some amazing backs-to-the wall defending. Cork’s Megan Connolly was everywhere fulfilling her defensive duties and it was a shame that it wasn’t until the final game against Nigeria that we got to see and enjoy her abilities for moving forward and her talent to pick out accurate passes in attack.

Young Abbie Larkin became the youngest capped Irish international and showed she is an exciting prospect for the future, especially when she came on against the Aussies.

Ruesha Littlejohn was the midfield general and was behind most good things going forward for Ireland. But maybe more significantly, she snuffed out so many potential issues, against Canada and Nigeria, with her ability to tackle opponents from behind with her long legs being crucial

In attack, Kyra Carusa, Sinead Farrelly, and Denise O’Sullivan all did thankless off the ball duties but had too few chances to fully show their forward abilities to a full extent, mostly down to the need to have all hands-on deck at the back.

But, of course the gong for our player of the tournament goes to Katie McCabe for her relentless push and endeavour in every game. Leading as a captain should, but also for getting our first goal in a women’s World Cup finals. A distinction in the record books that will live forever. She is driven, determined, and angry in all the right proportions, on the field at least.

A special note of congratulations must also go to goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan, whose brilliant save against Nigeria not only secured our first World Cup point, but it was also, without doubt, the best save of the tournament so far. The ability to reach the ball from the Nigerian header was amazing enough, having the strength of arm and ability to direct it on to the crossbar was near on Gordon Banks-like miraculous and it saved our bacon.

Congratulations one and all. For now, enjoy the celebrations. Some of these players will move on. More will stay and hopefully guide future generations of players from Ireland back to more World Cups.