Ireland v Wales: Home support can inspire victory in Euro qualifier

The nation’s eyes will be on the Aviva Stadium this evening when the Republic of Ireland face Wales in the second leg of their Euro 2025 play-off, 7.30pm.

The tie is evenly poised at 1-1 following last Friday’s game at Cardiff City Stadium, and the winner will go to the tournament finals next summer in Switzerland.

The prize is huge, and Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson hopes to do the country proud ahead of one of the biggest games ever staged on Lansdowne Road.

“Will the fans come out – it really helps the girls and it helps us,” she said.

It is our home. We want to do our home nation proud and that is what we will be looking to do on Tuesday.” 

 The Girls in Green started fast last Friday with early chances falling to Julie Ann-Russell and Niamh Fahey. Wales soaked up the pressure and scored against the run of play in the 21st minute through Lily Woodham, who ran onto a Jessica Fishlock cross from the right.

Ireland hit back with a shot from Denise O’Sullivan that was blocked down by the Wales defence. The Girls in Green kept going and their breakthrough came when a long-range attempt by Ruesha Littlejohn was fumbled in by Olivia Clark in the 35th minute.

Wales dug-in and wrestled control of the game from Ireland during the second half. This led to a number of chances, a burst that started with a curling Ffionn Morgan effort going just wide.

It finished as a close encounter between the two near rivals, and Gleeson expects a repeat of this on Tuesday.

“They are very physical – they are aggressive and they were winning a lot of first and second balls and that is something we have to look at.

“They have some nice physical players and that is what we knew their strength was, those counter-attacks. We said it from the start that it is an even game, it is two evenly matched profiled teams. I think it’ll be another battle on Tuesday.” 

 The important thing for the coach is that her side is level in the tie after playing in front of a packed Cardiff City Stadium.

“We said at the start that it is not an easy place to come here with 20,000 Welsh fans singing and making as much noise as possible,” she explained.

“We wanted to get back to the Aviva still in the game and I think that is what we done.

“I thought from the start that it would be an easily matched battle and that is what we saw. We opened well and we were a bit more dominant than they were dominant, for maybe 10-15 minutes and then it ebbed and flowed. We’re happy to come away and take it home.” 

RETURN

Ireland will return to the Aviva Stadium looking for their first victory at the venue since a 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland in September 2023.

Since then, the team has faced England and Sweden on Lansdowne Road, and a clash with France was played at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

These ties have strengthened the team by giving them games against higher opposition as they look to build on their place at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with the ultimate aim being regular qualification to major tournaments.

There’s also a feeling of unfinished business in the group after their failure to quality for Euro 2022, especially after taking a commanding position in their qualification group during the pandemic.

It came down to a game in Ukraine and the team lost 1-0, with the decisive moment an Aine O’Gorman own-goal.

This is one of many sub-plots going into Tuesday’s game with Wales at the Aviva Stadium.

Only one thing will matter, and that is getting a result and making sure the team is going to Switzerland next summer.