John Fallon: Real business now begins for Ireland's women

Little could be gleaned from the 20-0 aggregate wins over the minnows bar hardening the case for nations to be tiered in qualification campaigns.
John Fallon: Real business now begins for Ireland's women

BUSINESS BEGINS: Ireland’s Katie McCabe with Nino Gujabidze of Georgia. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

From the surreal of gorging on Georgia in Gori, the path to World Cup qualification glory will soon get real for Ireland's women when summer gives way to autumn.

Little could be gleaned from the 20-0 aggregate wins over the minnows bar hardening the case for nations to be tiered in qualification campaigns.

As Ireland's clubs in European competition will discover in the coming months, gross disparities exist in football, yet the chasm at women's international level is increasingly absurd.

The sight of Georgia's players in April queuing up for selfies with Chelsea star Magdalena Erikkson after being annihilated 15-0 by Sweden, when international football is immersed in a territorial battle for space in a squeezed calendar, was disconcerting.

Ireland are done with cakewalks for now as the calibre of opposition for the team ranked 27th in the world leaps from 124th Georgia to Finland (29) and Slovakia (45) in September.

Presuming – and presumptions are dangerous with Ireland teams – they emerge from that double-header with a ticket to the play-offs, nations of similar or higher rank will stand in their way to next year's finals.

Here we outline the key issues as the serious business beckons, most pressingly for what's billed as the biggest-ever game in a history 12 months short of a half century.

Who qualifies for the World Cup in September 2023 from Uefa's 51 entrants?

Nine group winners are guaranteed for the expanded 32-nation showpiece with two additional through the play-offs and potentially another via the intercontinental system.

Spain, France and the winners of Ireland's group, Sweden, have already booked their passage.

Like their male equivalent, Ireland were third seeds for the draw 12 months ago.

What's Ireland's qualification record?

Abysmal. While underage teams have qualified for the U17 and U19 Euros – as well as the U17 World Cup in 2010 – the seniors remain without a major tournament appearance.

The closest they came was in 2008 when the team managed by Noel King clinched a play-off for the 2009 Euros. After drawing 1-1 against Iceland at Richmond Park in the first leg, the challenges posed by a frozen pitch in Reykjavik proved insurmountable in a 3-0 defeat. Stephanie Roche, Niamh Fahey and Aine O'Gorman from the current squad were part of that panel.

What's the current state of play in Ireland's Group A?

Although Sweden's perfect record in the campaign was ended by Ireland in April's 1-1 draw, the point clinched them top spot with their final game – against Finland in Tempere on September 6 – to spare.

Both the Swedes and Finns will participate in the European Championship finals in England from next week before completing the World Cup campaign in September.

In the hunt for the play-off place, Ireland's victory over Georgia on Monday lifted them above the Finns by a point.

Both nations have two games apiece left, the first against each other at Tallaght on September 1.

What do Ireland need from the September double-header to seal a play-off?

Put simply, three points against Finland or four across the double-header that concludes in Slovakia.

Once Ireland avoid defeat, the onus would be on the Finns to shock Sweden on the final day and hope Ireland lose in Slovakia.

Replicating Ireland's feat of holding the Swedes is academic as the advantage Vera Pauw's side hold on head-to-head (win and draw) would be decisive.

A Finland victory in Dublin widens the list of permutations. That would give the Finnish nation a two-point buffer heading into the last day's fixtures.

In that situation, Ireland must beat a Slovakian side who drew with them in Dublin and pray the other game in Tampere goes with form.

Pauw fumed at a potential Nordic alliance when she objected to the fixtures schedule suiting the neighbours but Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson has dismissed any cosiness despite his own team's route already being copper-fastened.

Were that Finland-Sweden game to end in a draw and Ireland beat Slovakia, scorelines from Ireland's pair of matches against Finland come into play. That Ireland won 2-1 in Helsinki last October, rather than 1-0, is a good start in that possible countback.

How does the play-off series work?

This isn't a straightforward two-legged affair like Iceland 14 years ago or Denmark for the men's team in their 2018 World Cup pursuit.

Ireland will have to overcome at least two nations – or potentially four including an intercontinental tournament – for the mission to be accomplished.

That will be determined by their points haul at the end of their eight matches.

Of the nine runners-up, the three teams with the best points total bypass the 'semi-final' hurdle in October, leaving the other six to battle it out in three one-off shootouts to complete the six teams in the 'final' section.

Ireland currently sit seventh of the nine teams in the live table, highlighting the importance of maximising their return from the six points on offer. European champions Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium currently occupy the top three slots.

Of the three victors, the two with the best records in the group and play-offs advance directly to the showpiece, with the third parachuted into the intercontinental phase.

This series, featuring 10 nations from the six Fifa continents, will be run as a test event by co-hosts Australia and New Zealand during February 2023.

Ireland would need to win another pair of matches down under to grasp one of the three final places at the tournament. There's plenty to run yet on this journey.

McNally a template for Irish teens to follow

The early transfer-window forays for the Irish are vindicating the educational model.

Yesterday, Luke McNally joined fellow third-level graduate Conor McCarthy by securing a move to a side tipped for promotion.

McNally took the unconventional route of fusing football with his studies by playing in the League of Ireland while undertaking an international business degree at Maynooth University.

He was 20 when emigrating, joining Oxford United at the start of last year and gradually working his way into the team and to the status of saleable asset.

Tottenham had long-listed the Enfield native during last season, but Burnley was the prudent choice. If he can develop under Vincent Kompany in a similar way Josh Cullen did at Anderlecht, Ireland will soon have another contender for the congested defensive zone.

McCarthy blazed the trail by attaining an economic degree at University College Cork in tandem with operating for Cork City. His weekend move from St Mirren to League One Barnsley was a progressive step, given his new club’s promotion prospects at the first attempt.

The pair — along with Hull City’s former Cork player Sean McLoughlin — opted to stay at home before Brexit regulations forbid UK clubs from recruiting Irish teens.

Who knows whether Alex Murphy would have completed his Leaving Certificate this summer before moving to Newcastle United from Galway if Brexit hadn’t shifted market conditions, but its existence should encourage budding talent to emulate the path trodden by McNally and McCarthy.

Unity Cup harnesses power of football

Sports Against Racism Ireland (SARI) and the FAI are at the forefront of building cultural integration and today's Unity Euro Cup in Nyon brings their work to the international stage.

Stephen Kenny has accompanied the squad of 10 players representing Ireland to the inaugural eight-nation tournament at Uefa's headquarters in Switzerland.

The event has been developed alongside UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, with Ireland's squad featuring 70% of players with a refugee background and 30% without.

Ireland have been drawn in Group A with Austria, France and Switzerland but on-field participation is just part of the experience.

Take, for example, the backstory of Inza Bamba. His journey to playing for Shankill Valeview/Shanganagh FC began in the village of Blessegue, straddling Ivory Coast's border with Mali.

Orphaned by 14, Inza and a friend were left with no option but to trek through the Sahara Desert to Libya, where he worked as a welder, before boarding a boat destined for Italy in 2018. He spent a week in the Mediterranean Sea before the EU agreed to allow them to enter Malta, spending two months there before making Ireland his home at the age of 16.

"We work with people from all different parts of the world, predominantly Africa and people coming from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and most recently Ukraine," said FAI Development Officer Jonathan Tormey.

"Football has always been a constant for all of our young people; it brings that togetherness."

Email: john.fallon@examiner.ie

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