Gary Connaughton reporting from Tallaght Stadium
Ireland took a huge stride forward in their Euro 2021 ambitions last night, outperforming a dogged Greece team to secure a 1-0 win at Tallaght Stadium.
It was a game that the home side dominated throughout, with the gap in quality between the sides obvious to the 4,511 crowd that made their way to the stadium. The Greeks were content to slow the game down as much as possible, seeking out soft free-kicks and taking the sting out of the game through some questionable time wasting.
Despite this Ireland continued to dominate the first half. Their strong play was rewarded just before halftime, with Diane Caldwell in the right place at the set-piece to steer home the opening goal. That would prove to be the winner.
Speaking after the game, Ireland boss Vera Pauw said that her team knew that this would be a hard fought contest, but that the win puts them in a strong position for the remainder of the campaign:
It was a battle, again, we know the Greeks, they are so difficult to play against, we should have scored more. They were always compact...
The good thing is that we have left Greece behind us, and that is a very, very good thing. I don't see Ukraine taking all the points but we need to see. It's a very difficult team to play against, we will see how that goes but I am so happy with the three points as it turned out to be the same kind of game as the away game.
Ireland have now claimed ten points from their opening four games, a tally they likely would have been delighted with before a ball was kicked.
Despite their strong form, top place in the group seems unlikely. Germany are the top seeds and have been one of the dominant forces in the women's game for some time now.
Automatic qualification can still be achieved via a second placed finish. The nine group winners go straight through to the finals in England, but so do the three best runner-ups. If Ireland are to secure one of those spots, they may well have to win every remaining game that isn't against Germany. If they are not one of the three best second placed teams, they will head into the play-offs.
That is beginning to look like a worst-case scenario. A win in Wednesday's game against Montenegro would mean Ukraine would have to win every one of their remaining fixtures to overtake Ireland in the standings.
That makes securing a three points in next week's game a potentially key moment in the group. Pauw says that the team will learn lessons from last night's contest.
It was like 'not again' late on, it was also tight here against Ukraine in the last few minutes so we need to score more goals, that's what it is.
We are working on that but if you are a better team and you are only a few days together, after four months, then teamwork in the last phase is the most difficult. We could build up to a certain level but in the last phase it was just too early or too late, and that is teamwork that grows by playing together.
We will have had more time before Wednesday.
