It was always going to be a battle of David v Goliath in this evening’s friendly between Ireland, World Cup debutants and France, semi-finalists in the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 Euros.
However, for the first 30 minutes Ireland held their own, only letting it slip within minutes of the half-time whistle with goals from Maelle Lakrar and Eugenie Le Sommar respectively. Luckily for the Irish women’s national team, this game wasn’t about the result. And if making herself known was her aim, Kyra Carusa of London City Lionesses certainly achieved it, causing mayhem for the French defence and hinting at what she could do in the Irish attack.
While the last outing in Tallaght against Zambia two weeks ago was a practice run, the final test before crunch-time, this was Pauw’s strongest ‘tigers’ showing what they could do in their first major tournament.
The probable starting team for the World Cup were welcomed out by the elated 1973 team’s guard of honour, marking the momentous occasion, history-makers passing on the baton. President Michael D Higgins was also in attendance.
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Player of the match Carusa immediately made herself visible, finishing a first attempt at goal in the 12th minute, which was ruled out for offside.
Born in San Diego and qualifying through her Irish grandparents, Beryl MacCluskey from Laois and Cork-born Tony Lucey, Carusa has been patient since making her debut away to Montenegro in March 2020, only recently becoming Ireland’s striker of choice. She was injured for three games in the group phase of Ireland’s qualifying campaign, and has been competing against the likes of Heather Payne, Leanne Kiernan and Rianna Jarrett – whose departure in London City Lioness earlier this year left a gap that Carusa filled.
Her perseverance paid off and her position as the nailed-on starting striker was seemingly confirmed in April’s friendlies against the US – where she played underage before swapping allegiance – where she proved what she could do, with assists from Payne and O’Sullivan but failed to make the back of the net.
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Despite a strong start in the first half, captain Katie McCabe‘s absence seemed to cause some panic with a usually strong Irish defence unravelled by the two French goals in quick succession.
Carusa’s club experience shows what she’s capable of: her stint in Denmark, where she made 57 appearances for – and captained – two-time Danish champions HB Køge, scoring 30 goals and 13 assists along the way, but she will be looking to bring some of that striking power to the green jersey, where she has 2 goals in her 11 caps.
Although she was unable to add to that tally today, she has shown plenty of promise.
Previous games in Tallaght had been advertised as sold-out but rows of empty seats proved otherwise. This was not the case against France tonight, where the publicity, promise and popularity of the Irish women’s national team’s final game before their first World Cup drew in an almost full house, despite the weather. The record crowd for the women’s national team of 7,633 made their voices – and devotion – known, in spite of the disappointing result and particularly, the performance in the second half.
The women will be disappointed, but more time together, a behind-closed-doors match against Colombia and the return of McCabe will hopefully put the girls in green closer to where they need to be when they go up against co-hosts Australia on July 20th.
