Okay, the impossible dream wasn’t realised in Grenoble after all with that defeat by France, but for me the story of this World Cup qualifying campaign so far has mostly been a very, very positive one for Ireland.
It feels like it’s been a long time since there was an absence of outside noise, whether it was about managerial changes or relationships within the set-up. This time we were able to focus on the football, the incremental improvements that we’ve been seeing and just enjoy the fact that we achieved our goal in the group – and did it with aplomb.
We overcame two big pressure games against Poland, beat the Netherlands at home and lost by just a single goal in the defeats to France and the Dutch away. And we scored nine goals in our first five games. There’s plenty in all of that to give you heart.
In previous regimes, the fear of it all going wrong took away from the lightness of going out and just giving it a go. But the players look unburdened to me now. In the last campaign, we never laid a glove on England, for example, but this time we landed plenty on France and the Netherlands. And we rarely looked outclassed.
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And Carla Ward deserves a lot of credit for that progress. I was critical of her before for trying to impose her preferred style of play on this team, rather than playing to its strengths. It probably took her a little too long to realise the error of her ways, but the important thing is that she did.
She was never going to turn our players into, say, Aitana Bonmatí or Alexia Putellas after a week’s camp. The key thing was to get the squad she has to play in a way that gets the best out of them. And in this campaign, I think she has largely achieved that.
It’s been about sticking to a game plan, doing the simple things right. We’re more controlled in how we attack now, and we’re doing it in numbers – and when we lose the ball, we get back in numbers too. We’re less vulnerable, we’re less quick to drop the line. We’re getting the basics right more consistently.
Do we have a player like Melvine Malard who can score a goal like her winner on Tuesday night? No, but we have the likes of Anna Patten and Caitlin Hayes who, as they did in Grenoble, put everything on the line, read the play, intercept it, and set up attacks. Hayes, in particular, has been outstanding in the last two games; she has been an absolute pillar.
Regarding quality, we haven’t replaced the names that drove us on for so long, like Louise Quinn and Niamh Fahey, but what we have now are a bunch of players in form, who are getting quality minutes with their clubs, and who made smart moves to ensure that.
By moving to Newcastle and Sunderland, respectively, Aoife Mannion and Marissa Sheva were playing week-in, week-out last season, and Abbie Larkin really established herself at Crystal Palace. All of that stood to them, and, ultimately, to Ireland.
Larkin is no longer a young girl; she’s a woman now, and you can see that development and growing maturity on the pitch – the work-rate off the ball, the decision-making, moving the ball quickly, taking the shots on when she should take them on, being a real team player.
We always knew what talent she had, but things didn’t work out for her with Glasgow City, so we wondered what would be next for her. But since going to Palace, she’s put the head down, and she’s grown up. She’s done well.
But I would like to see more space for other young players to break through into that squad. That’s one thing we haven’t seen a whole lot of under Ward. We need to give more players a taste of football at this level in the hope that they can learn from it and develop. Bring them in at the age Abbie was brought in, let them learn so that they’re ready to make an impact when needed.
What we lack are natural full backs and wingers. Katie McCabe is probably the only one we have. You could tell that from some of the deliveries into the box against France, they were more hopeful than accurate.
It’s time to put a project in place to identify a player who has the game intelligence and physical attributes to play on the wing, even if they’re not doing it with their club. That’s definitely an area where we need to – and can – improve.
But after that group phase, I feel like we’re building something pretty special at the moment. Mind you, I’m not taking anything for granted. We should be well capable of getting through our playoff semi-final in October, but there are a few potential final opponents you would definitely want to avoid. We’ll see what the draw throws up.
For now, though, this team is in a good place after those six group games. There was more than enough in their performances to give them the confidence to believe they’ll be making a trip to Brazil next year. They’re coming along nicely.
