Our senior women went down to a three one defeat by Germany in their final Group I European Championship Qualifier at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Ireland started the match in second place one point ahead of Ukraine who were hosting bottom side Montenegro at the same time, a contest they were expected to win comfortably. They did win, but only just, an unexpected 2-1 scoreline was sufficient to claim second place and drop Ireland to third. Ireland did make a valiant effort but the top ranked visitors were just too strong. The visitors scored on 20 and 29 minutes to take command but a penalty converted by Katie McCabe a minute before the half-time break gave rise to hope but it was not to be and Germany added a third on 85 minutes to end the contest.
Team:- Grace Moloney; Aine O’Gorman, Louise Quinn, Diane Caldwell, Jamie Finn; Niamh Fahey, Denise O’Sullivan, Ruesha Littlejohn, Katie McCabe(C); Heather Payne, Rianna Jarrett
Substitutes:-
Amber Barrett for Jarrett 55′
Emily Whelan for Finn 80′
Squad:-
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan, Marie Hourihan, Grace Moloney, Niamh Reid-Burke
Defenders: Isibeal Atkinson, Diane Caldwell, Megan Campbell, Keeva Keenan, Aine O’Gorman, Eabha O’Mahoney, Claire O’Riordan, Louise Quinn, Harriet Scott, Claire Walsh
Midfielders: Niamh Fahey, Niamh Farrelly, Jamie Finn, Ruesha Littlejohn, Ellen Molloy, Denise O’Sullivan, Emily Whelan, Jessica Ziu
Forwards: Amber Barrett, Rianna Jarrett, Leanne Kiernan, Katie McCabe, Heather Payne
P W D L F A G/D Pts
Germany 8 8 0 0 46 1 45 24
Ukraine 8 5 0 3 16 21 -5 15
Ireland 8 4 1 3 11 10 1 13
Greece 8 2 1 5 6 21 -15 7
Montenegro 8 0 0 8 2 28 -26 0