Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson suffers her first loss as Wales prove too good for the girls in green in Tallaght friendly game

Republic of Ireland 0

Wales 2

THE Republic of Ireland WNT’s winning run under Eileen Gleeson came to an end with a 2-0 defeat to Wales at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The Girls in Green went down to first half goals from Jess Fishlock and Lily Woodham in front of 8,218 spectators, the team’s biggest ever crowd at the south-Dublin venue.

With the focus on the upcoming Euro 2025 qualifiers, the coaching team made just two changes to the side that drew 0-0 last Friday night with Italy. 

Amber Barrett and Leanne Kiernan were paired together up top and they took the place of Kyra Carusa and Izzy Atkinson, with the two forwards dropped to the bench.

They watched as Ireland struggled to get to grips with a Wales team that took control of the game and forced a number of chances inside the first ten minutes. 

This accumulated in a Woodham corner causing a goal-mouth scramble and at the end of this was Fishlock, who fired in from close range.

Ireland then won a corner and Caitlin Hayes broke this down to Amber Barrett. The striker tried to score first time and a point blank save from Olvia Clarke denied her in the 17th minute.

Woodham hit the roof of the net and shortly after and Ireland were left with a mountain to climb at the midway point of the first half.

Gleeson stared on, her unbeaten run stretching back to last September on the line, and made three changes at the break. 

Two players brought on were Carusa and Emily Murphy, and they injected a new sense of pace into the Ireland forward line.

Despite this, Wales looked comfortable in defence as they swatted away everything sent their way during the minutes following the restart.

Things fell flat thereafter, and a late spark of life came from winning Ireland a corner by charging down a forward pass. 

Megan Connolly’s set piece was headed away and the rest of the game faded out with eyes turning to the Euro 2025 draw scheduled for March 5th.

Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Jessica Stapleton, Niamh Fahey, Megan Connolly, Ruesha Littlejohn, Amber Barrett, Katie McCabe, Caitlin Hayes, Heather Payne, Leanne Kiernan, Jessica Zui.

Subs: Kyra Carusa for Barrett (HT); Louise Quinn for Caldwell (HT), Emily Murphy for Kiernan (HT), Izzy Atkinson for McCabe (72), Lily Agg for Stapleton (88).

Wales: Olivia Clark; Lily Woodham, Gemma Evans, Hayley Ladd, Josie Green, Rhiannon Roberts, Sophie Ingle, Angharad James, Jess Fishlock, Rachel Rowe, Elise Powell.

Subs: Charlie Escourt for Roberts (62); Ella Powell for Woodham (62), Ceri Holland for James (62), Lois Joel for Fishlock (81), Kayleigh Barton for Hughes (81).

Referee: Frida Mia Klarlund (Denmark)