Goals prove elusive for Ireland in deflating Sweden defeat

Republic of Ireland 0 Sweden 3

The Republic of Ireland on Eileen Gleeson’s watch have a goal scoring crisis. And with that comes an inevitable results issue. 454 minutes have passed since Caitlin Hayes claimed Ireland’s sixth goal against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park on December 5th.

Too good for the Nations League second tier, in 2024 Katie McCabe has led this honest group to defeats against France, England and now Sweden.

In the late eighties and early nineties an Irish team captured the nation’s imagination by making Lansdowne Road a horrible place for the aristocracy of Europe to visit. That team was full of English born professionals with a sprinkle of home grown icons in the making. For 1989 see 2024. Except this time, the gulf in class appears to great to close.

Not three minutes were clocked and the Swedes were moaning to Hungarian referee Katalin Kulcsár. With good reason. Lily Agg went two-footed into Fridolina Rolfö, the Barcelona star. Seconds later, McCabe won a free after barreling through Nathalie Björn and Filippa Angeldal; a little Arsenal muscle for the Chelsea and Manchester City duo.

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Whack a Swede, welcome to Dublin. A young crowd of 22,868 enjoyed each tackle.

McCabe began with her usual intent and technical excellence but jetlag remains undefeated. After the Gunners tour of Australia last week saw her play 90 minutes, the skipper’s legs were always going to betray her following a long season. Still, she was a demon out of possession and when the ball was on her toe, first Madelen Janogy was turned inside out before she almost clipped an audacious effort over Swedish goalkeeper Zecira Mušović. It skimmed the crossbar and the visitors survived an early blow.

Sweden took their licks and flowed through Ireland with a vengeance. Jessie Stapleton needed to make a perfect slide tackle to deny Johanna Rytting Kaneryd a sight of goal.

The Chelsea attacker refused to go away.

The Swedes’ desperation to avoid also-ran status in a treacherous Nations League group, that includes France and England, was not evident in the opening exchanges. This was mainly down to Gleeson’s clever 3-5-2 formation that had Amber Barrett starting as a second striker behind Kyra Carusa.

Barrett almost created a goal for Lily Agg but the midfielder’s poorly struck effort went wide of Musovic’s far post.

Everything was going to plan for Ireland until Kosovare Asllani slipped a pass to the overlapping Rytting Kaneryd who, unmarked, chipped over Courtney Brosnan.

It all happened in slow-motion as the World Cup semi-finalists pounced on Ziu’s out ball to Barrett. Magdalena Eriksson – all 110 caps of her – won possession before finding Janogy who found Asllani.

A glaring problem was never solved as Rytting Kaneryd began to torment Louise Quinn.

Kulcsár will struggle to explain how she failed to award Sweden a penalty when Jesse Ziu upended Asllani. Play on. Ziu did just that, steaming down the right, only for Barrett to somehow miss an open goal.

The Donegal woman’s header cleared the crossbar and all she could do was slam the grass in frustration. That was the moment.

McCabe also played on, receiving a yellow card for belting the ball into Asllani after the AC Milan midfielder clipped her ankle. Agg and Linda Sembrant were also booked for roughing each other up.

It was niggly, it was tactical, it could have been 2-0 to either side but it was 1-0 to Sweden at the turn. The difference between them was minimal but results define eras. Sweden took three of their many chances.

Ireland reappeared for the second half with real intent. Ziu’s cross invited Agg and Hanna Lundkvist to steam into each other. The defender just got a touch before cleaning out the Irish midfielder. Play on.

Ziu was outstanding in all areas. When Brosnan let a speculative Angeldal shot slip under her body the West Ham wing back cleared off the goal line before Janogy could finish.

Brosnan immediately atoned with a fine save from Rolfö as Irish energy levels visibly waned.

Change was needed and Gleeson, to the head coach’s credit, replaced the industrious Stapleton with the more creative Tyler Toland.

It was nowhere near enough to stem the Swedish tide. Ireland’s elder players looked exhausted. When Quinn only half-cleared a fairly routine cross by Angeldal, Rolfö controlled in acres of space to curl a lovely finish beyond Brosnan.

The biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Megan Campbell throw-ins. It begged the question, why keep such a useful weapon in reserve until the game was lost? Maybe the penny will drop before the return fixture on Tuesday in Stockholm. Maybe Gleeson will go with Leanne Kiernan and Campbell from the off because Denise O’Sullivan’s knee injury will not recover in time.

As Ireland sought to end their goal drought, Rytting Kaneryd punished them on the break with a third Swedish goal but only after more Brosnan heroics had denied Matilda Vinberg.

Ireland: Brosnan; Ziu, Patten (Campbell, 73), Lou Quinn, Hayes, McCabe; Agg (Kiernan, 73), Connolly, Stapleton (Toland, 61); Carusa (Mannion, 73), Barrett (Murphy, 83).

Sweden: Mušović; Björn (Lundkvist, half-time), Sembrant, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldahl, Asllani (Vinberg, 67), Zigiotti Olme; Rytting Kaneryd (Jakobsson, 87), Janogy (Hammarlund, 67), Rolfö (Kafaji, 88).

Referee: Katalin Kulcsár (Hungary).