Eileen Gleeson suffered her first defeat as Ireland head coach on Tuesday night, as her side slumped to a 2-0 home loss against Wales.
Off the back of Friday's draw away to Italy, spirits were high as Ireland returned to Tallaght Stadium for the first time in 2024. The new north stand meant that a record Tallaght crowd was in attendance but they were left disappointed by a disjointed Ireland performance, as Wales were ultimately fully deserving winners.
Speaking to Balls.ie and the Irish media at full-time, Gleeson was frank in assessing her team's performance. The head coach said that Ireland had failed to the "simple things" well and that their decision-making had let them down on the night:
Obviously super disappointed with the performance. The first half was not anything we anticipated.
I felt we didn't really do the simple things well. Pick up your runner off a corner - that is a simple thing. Take care of the ball. We gave the ball away very cheaply and were slow with our decision making. We were playing passes into crowded areas and gave it away.
They are not really related to that or whether we have a back four or a back three. They are the simple things that you have to do well and I feel that we definitely didn't do them well in the first half.
The girls have been brilliant. There were no levels of complacency. When you are on the pitch you have to find the ability to change the game and calm it down and not make one mistake, a second mistake, a third mistake. If you lose a player, don't lose her again. It is being accountable for that. We were able to affect it a bit better in the second half but we gave ourselves too much.
Look there is no excuse - it wasn't where it should have been and we didn't do the simple things well enough.
Despite the poor performance, Gleeson was keen to focus on what Ireland could learn from this international window going forward into April's EURO 2025 qualifiers.
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Ireland 0-2 Wales: Eileen Gleeson looks for positives
27 February 2024; Jess Fishlock of Wales, 10, celebrates after scoring her side's first goal during the international women's friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Wales at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
The games against Italy and Wales saw Ireland trial a back four, after several years of consistently sticking with a back three. With Ireland struggling for control in midfield, the second half of Tuesday's game saw Gleeson revert to a 3-5-2, and they slowly got more of a foothold in the game after that change.
Gleeson was encouraged by Ireland's improved second-half performance against Wales, though the biggest positive of this window for the Ireland coach was the successful introduction of fresh faces.
Emily Murphy came in at half time for her international debut and was impressive alongside Kyra Carusa in the second period. Similarly, the likes of Jess Ziu, Leanne Kiernan, and Aoife Mannion have returned to the squad and shown promise, in the absence of regular starters such as Denise O'Sullivan and Tyler Toland.
For Gleeson, the growing strength of Ireland's squad can only be a positive:
In the second half we were a bit better and you can see that we changed it and brought two strikers on. Kyra and Emily gave us a good partnership. Emily was very good on debut and there is more to come from her. They allowed us to hold the ball up and play a bit better. We gave ourselves way too much to do from the first half.
These games give you a really good overview. We’ve had a squad where we feel like, from the Nations League and the Italy game, and even tonight, our bench has been really impactful.
You get a clear view – is someone a better starter, are they better coming off the bench, can they make more impact there, is it a certain time of the game?
Both of these games have given us a lot of insight [as did the] Nations League. As much as I don’t want to lose, it does give you a lot of information as well. We have to use that going forward as well.
You see that the squad is getting broader with the talent pool. We know that we’ve got players out like Denise [O’Sullivan], Tyler [Toland], Sinead [Farrelly], Louise only coming back, Aoife only coming back.
It makes it harder but it makes it a clearer picture.
Eileen Gleeson also confirmed that the withdrawal of Ireland captain Katie McCabe late in the defeat to Wales was a precaution due to "tightness in her quad."
Ireland will learn their opponents for the EURO 2025 qualifiers next Tuesday, with the potential for Gleeson's side to come up against the likes of European champions England or world champions Spain, after Ireland's promotion to Nations League A.
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