Ireland v Slovakia

Ireland have guaranteed themselves a place in the second round of the World Cup playoffs after overcoming the challenge of Slovakia in Senec. Vera Pauw's side ...

Ireland with some good pressure high up the pitch to begin with. A McCabe corner is nodded down by Louise Quinn into the path of Diane Caldwell but the latter can't direct her shot on target and Slovakia get away with one. Ireland break quickly after good work from Ziu releases Heather Payne down the right hand side. An evenly-matched opening 10 minutes to this second half, with Ireland holding onto what they have currently. A great effort from O'Riordan considering the pace at which the ball dropped to her feet. That all-important goal came close to the break and it bookended a first-half performance that Vera Pauw would have been pleased with.

IRELAND'S FINAL World Cup qualifying game will take place tonight against Slovakia. The stakes ar...

And we also remember that we couldn’t get the win against them either, earlier in the campaign in Tallaght Stadium.“Qualification is still in our own hands and that is fantastic. The players and staff have worked incredibly hard to reach this point, something that we all dreamed about when the draw was originally made, and we will be ready for Tuesday’s game" We know what we have to do and we will have every box ticked with our preparation.

Ireland manager Vera Pauw has made three changes to her side for tonight's final World Cup group game against Slovakia in Bratislava.

Last week's goalscoring hero against Finland, Lily Agg, makes her first competitive start. Harriett Scott makes her first start since October 2020 in place of the suspended Jamie Finn. She replaces injury-victim Ruesha Littlejohn from the start having replaced her in the first half of last week's game.

Vera Pauw has hailed her side's fighting spirit as they seek to shorten their play-off path to next year's World Cup finals and singled out defender Megan ...

“Ireland have the play-offs and should be proud of their campaign but we will pick a team that will allow us to win tomorrow.” “They think if we don’t get it in a nice way, we make sure the ball is not going in until we get that organised and we can play again. “We have chances to make dramatic changes to the story,” he said.

Reaction and analysis after Ireland beat Slovakia to secure a first round playoff bye.

Ireland are in their orange away kit with Vera Pauw all smiles currently in the dugout. The ball is immediately launched long by Quinn but Slovakia do well to clear the first foray forward. 5 mins: That was dangerous for Ireland as Brosnan had to come off her line quickly to snuff out a through ball. 9 mins: A good spell of possession for Slovakia here as they work their way nicely through the press. 13 mins: McCabe’s crossfield ball to Campbell really is excellent as it opens up Slovakia out wide. Her ball to McCabe doesn’t find the skipper but Ireland to earn a chance for another long throw. 44 mins: Campbell’s long throw is again excellent as Slovakia fail to clear. Diane Caldwell’s volley wide plus O’Sullivan’s effort were the only occasions the Slovakian goal was threatened, but a lack of end product from Slovakia down the other end means Ireland have not been made to pay. Ireland interestingly sit back and invite them to play into their half. It’s a loose ball that bounces out to the edge of the box from a Campbell throw and the skipper makes a brilliant connection with the volley, only for it to drift wide. See O’Sullivan’s winner: Ziu reads the play well to make the intercept and with Slovakia out of position the interplay between herself, O’Sullivan and Payne leads to a cutback inside the box. It’s a complicated picture but the bottom line, as of now, is that Ireland could well need just one win to reach the World Cup, but it could end up being two games left.