With their crowd lifted, England raised their game, and only a brave block from Rafferty stopped a Stanway drive. Hemp had a shot blocked but Kirby controlled the loose ball and bent it beautifully past Burns's leap. Lucy Bronze head-and-shouldered a Mead cross across the face of goal and just wide, before Bright tried her luck again from distance – but that effort was woeful.Įngland were getting, being frustrated – until the breakthrough came in the 40th minute. Kellie Bright also put plenty of oomph into a long-range right foot shot, but Burns plunged to her right to keep that out. NI's defensive effort was much better, helped by the match official letting challenge go, with both teams getting stuck in. In between Wade had another opportunity after a Rebecca Holloway interception, but the Glentoran Woman's shot off her weaker left foot was no threat. With Keira Walsh pulling the strings from central midfiekd, Stanway then forced goalkeeper Jackie Burns to hack a shot away, and the English number 10 also had a shot half-blocked with Burns saving then Callaghan clearing. However, the ball was clearly going to hit the NI woman's body, although, after a lengthy VAR check and the referee going to the pitch-side monitor, the spot-kick was apparently overturned for an earlier English handball. The Swiss ref also offered England an early chance to score, awarding them a penalty after just five minutes, when Stanway's shot hit the arm of the advancing Rafferty. Suitably attired, Northern Ireland were inspired, even if captain Marissa Callaghan was finding it tough to contain the repeated runs forward of Georgia Stanway. She also sent a sweet pass forward for Wade to chase up the right flank and she outpaced Rachel Daly and cut inside, but her shot was parried out by Mary Earps.Īfter that, though, the game mostly took on the anticipated pattern, with England pouring forward.Įngland were unchanged, again, sending out the same team for their third Group A game, although there was an alteration in their dug-out as boss Sarina Wiegman has Covid, so her assistant Arjan Veurink took charge.Įngland also had to change their socks, to a red and orange combo, so as not to clash with NI's white, with 'the girls in green' finally allowed to don their home kit The Southampton player certainly slotted in comfortably, sticking closely to Kirby, and restricting her influence for long periods. Shiels had made only one change to the team that lined out against Austria, with Laura Rafferty coming into her hometown pitch in place of Chloe McCarron. Kenny Shiels's side had held out for the first 38 minutes, and the last 40 of play, and even threatened to find the net themselves on a couple of occasions against a ruthless team whose for and against tally over their past 11 competitive matches is now 82-0.įorty years on from when the men's team had stunned tournament hosts – at the 1982 World Cup in Spain – NI almost took an amazing first minute lead. Mead came close to doubling her tally, and Russo really should have completed here hat-trick late on then Mead turned provider, but she skied her shot from the clever cut-back. Yet after the burst of goals from Fran Kirby and Beth Mead shortly before the interval, then another rapid brace from half-time sub Alessia Russo, only an own goal from the unfortunate Kelsie Burrows ensued in the final 40 minutes. Long before the game was over a host of blonde pony-tails had been powering towards the beleaguered green rear-guard like a Ride of the Valkyries, aiming to kill them off. The subs the tournament subs were able to bring on are seriously talented: Alex Greenwood, Ella Toone, Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly, Jess Carter.
The atmosphere afterwards wasn't a wake, or at least only an Irish one, as the party started early, with both sets of supporters thoroughly enjoying themselves – albeit partly because the English have, ahem, 'borrowed' both 'Sweet Caroline' and the striker's '….on fire, your defence is terrified' song from the Green and White Army.Įngland sank the girls in green, of course they did. While the sun had already set on Northern Ireland's Euros odyssey, the dream has not died indeed the afterlife of this tournament will ripple onwards and outwards for years to come.
Those lines, aptly from 'Crossing the Bar', by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who often sailed the Solent from Southampton to his home on the Isle of Wight, were fitting as NI's first major tournament officially ended in a 5-0 defeat. Euro 2022 Group A round three: Northern Ireland 0-5 England
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