Clinical Finland prosper on a frustrating night for Ireland

The balance of the contest here suggested there is not much to separate these two sides but for the moment the European Championship Group Two qualifying table will suggest otherwise with Finland now six points clear of Ireland for whom this opening defeat will represent a significant blow.

The Irish will wonder quite how they got nothing out of the game, but the Finns did all they needed to after grabbing an early goal through Emma Koivisto then defending solidly for long periods and scoring a second when Linda Sallstrom headed home from close range on 70 minutes. It was hard on the home side but they will know that a good deal more ruthlessness will be required through the rest of a campaign that resumes in Portugal next month.

After a sluggish start, the Irish more than matched their opponents in just about every department bar finishing. However, it was the visitors who scored with their first attempt on target, a chipped effort by right-back Koivisto that looked like a miscued attempt to cross from 25m out.

Whatever the Finn's intention, Irish goalkeeper Emma Byrne will feel she should have done better, with the Arsenal player having a long time as the ball hung in the air to weigh up her save, but somehow she failed to make it.

Moments earlier, it had been Ireland who had looked set to score when Anna Westerlund’s mistake had allowed Denise O’Sullivan to go one on one with the visiting keeper but the striker’s shot, though taken under pressure, had been badly wide. Then within a couple of minutes Sue Ronan’s side were chasing the game.

Senior debut

They set about the task methodically enough with Niamh Fahey initially anchoring midfield and, after an early reshuffle, Katie McCabe leading the attack. Making her senior debut here on her 20th birthday, the Shelbourne striker looked lively with her ability to take on and beat opponents, sometimes from pretty unpromising positions, a key element of the threat that Ireland posed over the rest of the half.

Her brightest moment came shortly before the break when she took the ball with her back to goal, turned well and skipped between two defenders to start a move that ended with O’Sullivan almost firing home through a crowded six yard box. Moments later an injury to Megan Campbell forced another reorganisation with Ruesha Littlejohn coming on and into midfield while Fahey dropped into central defence.

Despite the changes, Ireland’s grip on things seemed to tighten through opening spell of the second half and they looked increasingly likely to find an equaliser with Littlejohn’s well-saved curling shot the best of several decent chances created.

When the Finns broke just over midway through the half, though, the locals conceded a corner and then defended it poorly with Sallstrom allowed to head home from just beyond the near post.

That more or less killed things and while the hosts continued to chase the goal that would have given them some hope of salvaging a point, the closest they came was Diane Caldwell shot late on that flew into the side-netting.