{"id":327887,"date":"2026-03-04T05:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T05:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327887\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T05:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T05:28:18","slug":"heartache-for-ireland-as-two-late-goals-and-an-incredible-goal-line-clearance-rob-them-of-a-result-against-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327887\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartache for Ireland as two late goals and an incredible goal-line clearance rob them of a result against France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal star Katie McCabe had opened the scoring for Carla Ward’s side early in the first-half.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Katie McCabe celebrates her goal against France(Image: INPHO\/Ryan Byrne)<\/p>\n

IRELAND 1 (McCabe 12) – 2 FRANCE (Malard 71, 79)<\/p>\n

It took France 71 minutes to finally quack Ireland open – as super-sub Melvine Malard led a Tallaght Stadium comeback.<\/p>\n

And a sensational goalline clearance from Marie-Antoinette Katoto denied Denise O\u2019Sullivan a last-gasp equaliser as the Girls in Green pushed desperately for a deserved share of the spoils.<\/p>\n

The celebrations at the end from the French bench and players told the story of this one.<\/p>\n

They knew they got away with a win they scarcely merited, but secured thanks to two moments of clinical magic by their Manchester United star.<\/p>\n

Trailing to Katie McCabe\u2019s early opener, the visitors turned to the bench and brought on Malard, who needed just two minutes to find the net.<\/p>\n

She followed that up eight minutes later with a goal to break Irish hearts, and condemn Carla Ward\u2019s side to a cruel defeat.<\/p>\n

This was a wonderfully bright performance by the Girls in Green against one of the best teams on the planet right now, regardless of the injuries that robbed France of some star names.<\/p>\n

The depth of quality within the French set-up ensured that head coach Laurent Bonadei still had 11 top-class players in his starting line-up.<\/p>\n

Yet they were on the back-foot early on, penned in by a surprisingly aggressive Irish opening.<\/p>\n

Emily Murphy\u2019s pace will be the subject of nightmares for the French defenders for nights to come, while Denise O\u2019Sullivan looked as sharp as ever.<\/p>\n

She said after moving from North Carolina Courage to Liverpool recently that her international form would benefit from the lack of jetlag.<\/p>\n

And she covered every blade of grass last night, shrugging off an early knee injury that required some strapping.<\/p>\n

But it was McCabe – who else – with the moment that mattered after just 12 minutes, as she fired Ireland into a deserved lead in front of 8,376 fans, a record Tallaght Stadium attendance for a women\u2019s international.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Katie McCabe scores for Ireland against France(Image: INPHO\/Nick Elliott)<\/p>\n

The Gunners ace, just inside the French half, sent the ball down the left flank towards Murphy, and continued her run as the Newcastle forward cut inside.<\/p>\n

With a delightful reverse pass, Murphy found McCabe, who didn\u2019t have to break stride as she shot first time across Picaud and inside the far post for her 32nd senior Ireland goal.<\/p>\n

Two minutes later, McCabe found herself joining De Almeida in the referee\u2019s notebook for a foul on the French full-back.<\/p>\n

De Almeida had picked up a third minute booking for a foul on Murphy, who was barrelling towards the area courtesy of an O\u2019Sullivan through ball.<\/p>\n

The resulting free-kick was well struck by Megan Connolly, but equally impressive was replacement goalkeeper Constance Picaud\u2019s save.<\/p>\n

In for injured Juventus net-minder Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, she pushed the ball wide of goal.<\/p>\n

The French stopper did well again on 11 minutes to deny Murphy, who controlled Patten\u2019s pass and took aim for the bottom right-hand corner.<\/p>\n

While the visitors began to dominate possession midway through the first-half, they rarely threatened Courtney Brosnan\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Katie McCabe celebrates her goal against France(Image: INPHO\/Ryan Byrne)<\/p>\n

It was a similar story in the second-half, and only for a full-stretch Picaud save on 58 minutes they would have been two-behind. She did well to palm Caitlin Hayes\u2019 header away.<\/p>\n

But then came Malard and Melween N\u2019Dongala as a double-substitution, and within minutes of her introduction the Red Devils forward found the net.<\/p>\n

She picked up possession just outside the area and slalomed her way past a couple of challenges, before she slotted the ball low inside the right-hand post.<\/p>\n

Her second was into the same corner, this time after some pinball inside the Irish area.<\/p>\n

The reaction of Ward\u2019s players was impressive, as they piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.<\/p>\n

McCabe appealed in vain for a handball inside the box and O\u2019Sullivan was somehow robbed by that most remarkable goalline clearance.<\/p>\n

Heartache for the Irish, but they have little time to lick their wounds, as it\u2019s onto the Netherlands for their next qualifier on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Anna Patten, Caitlin Hayes, Chloe Mustaki; Aoife Mannion, Denise O\u2019Sullivan, Megan Connolly (Amber Barrett 85), Marissa Sheva, Katie McCabe; Emily Murphy, Kyra Carusa (Abbie Larkin 70).<\/p>\n

France: Constance Picaud; Elisa De Almeida (Melween N\u2019Dongala 69), Thiniba Samoura, Maelle Lakrar, Perle Morroni (Melvine Malard 69); Grace Geyoro, Oriane Jean-Francois, Sakina Karchaoui; Kadidiatou Diani, Clara Mateo (Marie-Antoinette Katoto 46), Sandy Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Referee: Tess Olofsson (Sweden)<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal star Katie McCabe had opened the scoring for Carla Ward’s side early in the first-half. Ireland\u2019s Katie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18999,61,60,19002,43,57217,57420],"class_list":["post-327887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-carla-ward","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-katie-mccabe","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-national-football-team","tag-republic-of-ireland-womens-football-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}