Carla Ward says she is thrilled her team were able to give Irish football a lift following the gloom of the men’s team not qualifying for the World Cup.
Ireland delivered arguably their best performance in the Englishwoman’s time in charge as they held on for an impressive 3-2 win over Poland, ranked three places above them, in Gdansk.
Emily Murphy opened the scoring before captain Katie McCabe scored an absolute screamer.
Ireland’s Denise O’Sullivan and Marissa Sheva. Pic: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Marissa Sheva added a third in the second-half and while there were some nervy moments after Ewa Pajor pounced for Poland’s second in the 79th minute and McCabe uncharacteristically blazed a late penalty over the bar, Ireland, driven forward by a superb Denise O’Sullivan, held on.
‘I am just really, really delighted,’ Ward (below) said after her team picked up their first win of the campaign and delivered some good news after what happened to the men’s team in Prague.
‘Obviously, I’m really close to Heimir [Hallgrímsson]. I spend a lot of time with him and I felt it with him, with the group and it’s tough. But if we can bring a little bit of life to it and give everyone a lift, great. Because we’re all in it together. ‘After the first two games of the campaign (2-1 defeats by both France and the Netherlands), we knew we were getting there, we were competing with two of the very best. But the proof’s in the pudding and that’s points.
Carla Ward. Pic: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
‘All week we’ve talked about complacency, making sure there isn’t that there, taking the positives from the first two games, but continuing to improve all those areas we need to. And to turn that into three points they deserve an awful lot of credit.’
Ward admitted she was surprised that Poland sat off Ireland in the opening 15 minutes and that gave her team a bit of belief.
‘We almost prepared ourselves to weather an early storm, but it didn’t come. And then we started to feel that we could nick a bit more momentum, and get a little bit more aggressive.
‘We got Katie a little bit more front-footed and aggressive, front two were a little bit more aggressive, and then it puts us in a position where then you can control the game.’
Katie McCabe celebrates after she scores her sides 2nd goal. Pic: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
And Ward was full of praise for O’Sullivan’s performance.
‘She was brilliant, wasn’t she? Absolutely world-class tonight. I actually told her at the end, I said, that is up there with some of the best 90 minutes I’ve seen from you. She was superb. I could talk about Denise till the cows come home.’
Pajor’s late goal did cause some jittery moments towards the end but Ward felt her team were always in control.
‘Look, we never want to concede and I will remind the players those are moments that we’ll look at. They won’t be the only moments they want to look at, because they want to improve and they want to be better all the time. This group is so hungry to learn. They absolutely loved how much we want to try and develop, and how much we want to try and tap into everything.
‘But look, the big thing is three massive points, away from home in a very tough place against a very good team. This group really do deserve an awful lot of credit for delivering the way they just did.’
Ireland’s Emily Murphy celebrates with team mates after she scores her sides 1st goal of the match. Pic: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Having bagged a third successive player of the match award, Emily Murphy suggested that was the best Irish performance she was involved in — but there was more to come from the team.
‘As we said in the huddle at the end of the game, that was probably the best performance that we had and to do it away to Poland required a massive shift,’ said the Newcastle forward, who scored her second international goal.
‘We knew coming into this window that we need points and we are halfway there, but another big shift is required in the Aviva on Saturday. I will just keep working hard and doing what I am doing and the whole team will. We fight for each other.’