Republic of Ireland women do enough to get the badly needed win over Greece in the Nations League

Republic of Ireland 2

Greece 1

Cork's Denise O’Sullivan captained the Republic of Ireland to a 2-1 victory over Greece in the UEFA Women’s Nations League at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday night.

Amber Barrett and Anna Patten were on target for the Girls in Green as they maintained their promotion push by remaining in second place in the group, three points behind leaders Slovenia.

Saoirse Noonan also came off the bench and made her return to the national team, after scoring 23-goals so far this season for Celtic.

With Slovenia winning again tonight the final double-header against Turkey and Slovenia – even if Ireland were to win both games may not be enough to reach the summit.

If, as expected, both Ireland and Slovenia beat the bottom two seeds over the next couple of games, then the victor of the pool will be determined by the final game at Pairc Uí Chaoímh on Tuesday, June 3 with Slovenia holding the advantage because of their 4-0 home win over Ireland in the goal difference table.

Three points against the Slovenians in Cork would bring them level but only an emphatic victory will suffice to overhaul the team who vanquished Ireland so easily in Koper.

The fact Uefa gives precedence to results in head-to-head matches over goal difference deepens the task for Carla Ward's team.

Carla Ward was aware of what was at stake on Tuesday, with the spine of the team kept from last week’s 4-0 victory over Greece in Crete. 

Just two changes were made from that group, with Barrett in for an injured Kyra Carusa and Marrissa Sheva swapped with Ruesha Littlejohn in the middle of the park.

O’Sullivan was the centre piece, with the captain tasked with running forward and linking up play in-between the lines.

This was instrumental in establishing a level of attacking fluency early on and out of that came a penalty in just the 8th minute after Leanne Kiernan was fouled on the edge of the area as she ran in from the right.

Barrett snuck her shot past a diving Zoi Nasi from the spot and Ireland led 1-0.

The Girls in Green could have doubled their advantage in the 23rd minute when Kiernan played Lucy Quinn through, but the end product was off target and the ball hit the roof of the net.

Ireland finished the half with a flourish, their issue was getting the second goal that would have truly killed the game off. 

An Aoife Mannion chance from a Megan Campbell corner personified this, as the defender failed to take advantage of the opening before the half hour mark.

It was 1-0 at the break and the game restarted with Patten making it 2-0 by turning in a corner.

This re-energised Greece and the visitors to south Dublin pushed up in a bid to pull a goal back.

They pulled one back when Maria Paterna dropped the ball onto the penalty spot and Patten’s clearance went out to Veatriki Sarri. The striker got around Tyler Toland and squeezed in a left legged shot from outside the area and it was 2-1 in the 73rd minute.

Lucy Quinn almost responded for Ireland during their next spell inside the penalty area, and her effort was pushed out for a corner that came to nothing.

Caitlin Hayes came off the bench late on, and the defender’s presence helped tighten the defence and secure the three points.

Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Aoife Mannion, Jessie Stapleton, Anna Patten, Megan Campbell; Tyler Toland, Denise O'Sullivan, Marissa Sheva; Lucy Quinn, Amber Barrett, Leanne Kiernan.

Subs: Emily Murphy for Kiernan (HT); Saoirse Noonan for Barrett (73), Abbie Larkin for Quinn (82), Ruesha Littlejohn for Toland (82), Caitlin Hayes for Sheva (89).

Greece: Zoi Nasi; Maria Palama, Eleni Markou, Maria Paterna; Stamatia Ntarzanou, Eleni Saich, Veatriki Sarri, Athanasia Moraitou, Maria Mitkou; Ioanna Papatheodorou, Anastasia Spyridonidou.

Subs: Sofia Kongouli for Spyridonidou (HT); Eleni Kakambouki for Moraitou (HT), Maria Gkouni for Ntarzanou (66), Despoina Chatzinikolaou for Palama (84), Referee: Franziska Wildfeuer (Germany)