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Ireland v Finland: All You Need To Know

Updated / Thursday, 1 Sep 2022 09:51
Denise O'Sullivan celebrates scoring the winner against Finland in Helsinki last year
Denise O'Sullivan celebrates scoring the winner against Finland in Helsinki last year

WHEN

Republic of Ireland v Finland, Tallaght Stadium, Thursday 7pm.

TV

Live coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 6.30pm.

RADIO

Live commentary on RTÉ2fm from 7pm.

ONLINE

Live tracker on RTÉ.ie and the News Now app from 6.30pm. Updates and match footage on RTÉ Soccer Twitter and RTÉ Sport Facebook.

WEATHER

Thursday will be mostly dry with sunny spells, though there will be one or two showers in places. Highest temperatures of 18 or 19 degrees with a light to moderate easterly breeze. For more, see met.ie.

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Taking the big leap

It's almost two years since Ireland missed out on a Euro 2022 play-off place following that excruciating loss to Ukraine in Kyiv, which left several players in tears at the final whistle.

They had ample time to recover from Áine O'Gorman's chaotic own goal, her back-pass wrong-footing Courtney Brosnan and trickling into the far corner. However, despite monopolising possession for the next 65 minutes, the equaliser wouldn't arrive, Katie McCabe's first-half penalty thwacking off the crossbar.

And so, an entirely unprepossessing Ukraine side advanced to the play-offs, where they fell dismally short against Northern Ireland, triggering yet more pangs of regret. In late 2017, NI had come to Tallaght for a European qualifier and were smashed 4-0, McCabe and Leanne Kiernan grabbing a brace apiece.

Now, however, it was the North who were heading for a major finals - shades of Spain '82 - while the higher-ranked ROI would be watching at home.

While there's still a lengthy road to qualification, even after this present group winds up, Thursday provides an opportunity to banish the ghosts of Kyiv. Victory will guarantee Ireland a spot in the - admittedly convoluted - play-off process later this year.

The Irish players celebrate Megan Connolly's free-kick against Finland last October

There's a palpable sense that Ireland have evolved as a team since the sickening failure in Kyiv. In the long and dreary interregnum between the end of the Euro 2022 preliminaries and the beginning of the current World Cup process, Ireland played - and lost - a series of friendlies, the losing streak eventually hitting seven games.

Amidst it all, Pauw insisted that the team were gaining more from losing friendlies to higher quality teams than they might by trampling over lower-ranked cannon fodder. This assessment would appear to be borne out by the side's resilience in the current campaign.

Undoubtedly the most significant result of was the 2-1 win in Helsinki last October, which has put Ireland in a commanding position ahead of the return match in west Dublin this week.

Megan Connolly put Ireland in front early with a 10th-minute free-kick. Shortly after Adelina Engman swept home a 52nd-minute equaliser, Denise O'Sullivan stole in at the back-post, out-muscling a covering defender to force home the winner.

It's all served to tee up what it is one of the most significant games in the history of the Ireland women's team - though as someone observed recently, that's been said of many of their recent games.

It's a mark of the growing buzz and anticipation surrounding the team, as they seek a first ever appearance at a major tournament, that the tickets for tomorrow's game sold out in rapid quick time.

One caveat from the current campaign is that Ireland's only wobble occurred at home to Slovakia, a 1-1 draw shortly after the victory in Finland, perhaps indicating that the side perform better in a backs-to-the-wall style scenario away from home.

"It's a big game for us as a team, as a nation," said Brighton midfielder Connolly this week.

"There's a lot of hype around it. If we win, we qualify for play-offs, but we don't want to get caught up in that, we don’t want to get too caught up in the emotions.

"It's what you want to be a part of, isn’t it? It’s what we play for. It’s what we want to achieve as a nation.

"We are in an amazing position but a ball has not been kicked. Both teams are competing for the same goal. It will come down to football, not to history or what we've done in the past."

Finns in bother?

Vera Pauw was understandably anxious to talk up Finland in last Friday's press conference, stressing the difficulty of their Euro 2022 group, where they lost all three games to Spain, Denmark and Germany.

The Finns themselves were evidently not so impressed with their own efforts, manager Anna Signeul paying the price, replaced last month by U17 manager Marko Saloranta who has been put in temporary charge until the end of the qualifiers.

Finland sacked manager Anna Signeul following their Euro 2022 performance

Finland have reached four of the past five European Championships but have yet to make a World Cup - and they've endured a horrible 12 months, winning just one of their past 11 games, an underwhelming 6-0 victory over group minnows Georgia last April - a team against whom Ireland have racked up 20 goals in two games.

The Finns are currently on a five-game losing streak - a run which did for manager Signuel - friendly defeats against Japan and Netherlands preceding their Euro 2022 ordeal.

They may have begun the campaign as the second seeded team but a grueling year of losses has taken its toll on their ranking, and they are now placed below Ireland in the standings, 29th as against 27th.

New boss Saloranta acknowledged it had been a tumultuous month, speaking to RTÉ Sport on Wednesday.

"I've been in the job four weeks. I was Under-17s coach still four weeks ago, and now we have trained three times together here. There are many things that we want to improve, but of course, everyone who is part of football knows that in three sessions, there's not many things (you can) do.

"Still, I feel we have improved in some points what we wanted. Of course, for the players and for me, it will be a tough night, but I think we have a chance to take the points."

The bulk of the Finnish players are based in Sweden, with only three currently operating in the WSL, Eveliina Summenan and Tijna Riikka-Korpela of Tottenham and Emma Koivisto at Liverpool. 33-year-old Linda Sallstrom, scorer of their only goal at the Euros, is still their most prolific player, with 51 international goals from 120 appearances.

Fahey blow as squad wears otherwise familiar look

Vera Pauw confirmed on the eve of the game that hugely experienced defender Niamh Fahey would miss out, the Liverpool player incurring a groin injury.

The Irish manager expressed the hope that Fahey, such a constant presence in the Irish defence over the past decade, would recover in time to feature in Slovakia.

Niamh Fahey is ruled out with a groin injury

"Niamh won't make tomorrow. We had a scan, and on the basis of the scan we are sitting down tonight with the medical team o see if she can make Slovakia," she said.

"It's not a severe injury but she's not ready. We have a broad squad and I think we've found a very good solution. I'm not going to tell you!"

Aside from Fahey, Pauw is also without Savannah McCarthy, Aoife Colvill, Rianna Jarrett and Kyra Carusa, all missing through injury.

On the other hand, Connolly, Harriet Scott and Leanne Kiernan all return, having missed the 9-0 trouncing of Georgia earlier this year. Wexford Youths Ellen Molloy has also earned a recall, having racked up 16 goals from midfield in the WNL season thus far.

Molloy is one of four home-based players involved, alongside O'Gorman of Peamount, Shels Abbie Larkin and DLR Waves keeper Eve Badana.

While Denise O'Sullivan, Heather Payne and Amber Barrett are all based across the Atlantic, the bulk of the squad are operating out of the WSL, which gets underway on Friday week.

Kate McCabe and O'Sullivan are two top scorers in the group so far, with seven and five goals respectively.

Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (Reading), Megan Walsh (Brighton & Hove Albion), Eve Badana (DLR Waves)

Defenders: Harriet Scott (Birmingham City), Claire O'Riordan (Celtic), Diane Caldwell (Reading), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Hayley Nolan (London City Lionesses), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City), Megan Campbell (Liverpool), Áine O'Gorman (Peamount United)

Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O'Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ruesha Littlejohn (Aston Villa), Jamie Finn (Birmingham City), Ciara Grant (Hearts), Lily Agg (London City Lionesses), Ellen Molloy (Wexford Youths), Jess Ziu (West Ham United), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City)

Forwards: Heather Payne (Florida State University), Amber Barrett (FFC Turbine Potsdam), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Abbie Larkin (Shelbourne), Saoirse Noonan (Durham WFC)

Permutation station

Pauw was careful last Friday to warn us against selling "the skin of the bear before you shoot it" - a Dutch colloquialism which you can guess the meaning of.

The Irish gaffer was alerting us to the fact that the qualification for the 2023 World Cup is a long way off yet, even in the event of a positive result on Thursday.

As anticipated - and notwithstanding Ireland's extreme competitiveness against them in both Dublin and Gothenburg - the Swedes have sped away from everyone at the head of the group, leaving Ireland and Finland to tussle for second spot.

Results thus far have left Ireland in a commanding position in this foot-race. They lead the Finns by a point heading into the penultimate game. Better again, Finland's final game is at home to Sweden - who admittedly may have little to play for - while Ireland's is a possibly tricky but hardly intimidating away assignment in Slovakia.

Victory for Ireland on Thursday will ensure their place in the play-off, while even a draw would leave the matter still in their hands heading into the final round of games next Tuesday. A defeat, while jarring, would be far from fatal, with a victory in Slovakia combined with a Finland loss at home to Sweden (hardly unlikely) sending Ireland to the play-offs.

As for that tortuous play-off process, that's a whole other story, our reporter Anthony Pyne has more here...

Follow the Republic of Ireland versus Finland on Thursday (kick-off 7pm) via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, watch live coverage on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, or listen to national radio commentary on RTÉ 2FM.

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