Women!
I’ve been exposed to a lot of women this week. We spent some time in the company of the senior international team as they prepared for the visit of Switzerland in the World Cup qualifier at Richmond Park.
And we played, yes played, against some of the most talented girls on the FAI/Fas course in Clondalkin when only six of our number turned up last week for our five a side! The women’s group agreed to lower their standards and take us on in a challenge of sorts.
Woman trapped in a man's body, Damien 'Rico' Richardson, plays the first five yards in his head anyway and he got caught up in heavy traffic there early on; Monaghan United’s boss man Mick Cooke showed that age is no barrier, especially when defending, and Eamon and James from Team MNS proved that making decent television programmes about football is probably easier than actually playing decent football.
To give you an idea of how good these girls were the one wearing the bright lemon boots, who had us old guys mesmerised with her fancy footwork, was subsequently called up to Noel King’s Republic of Ireland squad for the game against Switzerland in Inchicore.
It was a pleasure to spend a lovely lunchtime with the squad at their Berkeley Court base and experience up close the camaraderie and team spirit that has served these women well in the campaign so far.
Back to back victories against Kazakhstan and Israel away from home left the Irish with three home games in the group and their destiny, to a degree, in their own hands.
However a narrow defeat to a classy Swiss side at Richmond Park put paid to any real hopes of an appearance in the finals. A nervous opening from the Irish girls and an inexplicable defensive lapse left the Irish keeper Emma Byrne and Niamh Fahey in a heap on the edge of the box and when the play was cleverly switched Sandy Mandly finished to an empty net.
Early in the second half the Swiss extended their advantage with a second goal coming from a corner, Naomi Beney hooking the ball over everyone and into the far corner.
Captain Ciara Grant got one back for Ireland three minutes later with a nifty backheel and from the fifty seventh minute onwards Ireland dominated like they were Barcelona for the first hour against Arsenal. (Yes, a live stream from North London to the press box in Inchicore thanks to www.rte.ie!)
Many chances were created by the Irish girls in that second half including a cracking free kick from Grant again that rattled against the crossbar and corner after corner, as the clock ticked down, sadly led to nothing and the spoils of victory were denied.
It was hardly a fair outcome over the ninety minutes but all part of the learning curve for a talented group of Irish women.
Ireland now have two games left in the group against Russia and Israel in August and hopefully the obvious progress made by this particular group of girls will be rewarded with six points and a strong finish
Manager Noel King was honest enough to admit that he wasn’t expecting to qualify for the World Cup in Germany in 2011, each of the eight group winners in Europe play off for just four places at the finals next July twelve months. Instead Kinger enthused about the quality of player now available to him, 'as good as I’ve ever seen in an Irish Women’s team.'
In reality a second place finish in the group would be Ireland’s best achievement to date in the Women’s game and an indication of the progress achieved under King, particularly when you consider that we have no Women’s national league in this country.
What we do have are some of the Arsenal girls, like goalkeeper Emma Byrne, Niamh Byrne, captain Ciara Grant and Yvonne Tracy and the Gunners winning mentality (the most successful side in English football) has clearly had an influence.
Equally the American influence on the squad is strong. Chicago Red Stars are the leading team in the American Pro league and Mary Therese McDonnell and Fiona O’Sullivan are two of the standout players in King’s side.
O'Sullivan, in particular, is a big presence in the team according to captain Ciara Grant. The Californian born player has an Irish dad who played hurling and football mainly before heading for the States and it was Fiona herself who took the initiative when seeking international recognition.
Her boyfriend, a Trinidad and Tobago international basketball player urged her to follow her dream and play for her father’s country and so, following his prompting, she rattled off an e mail to the FAI website.
A year later (no point in rushing things!) and Noel King invited her to attend the Ireland training camp in Indiana and since then O’Sullivan has been scoring for fun.
There’s surely a lesson here for Giovanni Trapattoni and the men’s squad. Spread the net wide enough, including to the United States, Australia, New Zealand and all the other destinations where the diaspora went in their droves and trawl for talent this country can not afford to lose.
Fiona spent some time in her youth in the wilds of West Cork and had no issue with understanding the Cork accent. But when confronted with the Dublin and even Galway lilts in the Republic of Ireland set up she found herself floundering. I know the feeling!
Tony O’Donoghue is Soccer Correspondent for RTÉ.
