That\u2019s not even half the story from this stunning game.<\/p>\n
When Abbie Larkin got her body across Dominique Janssen, the Manchester United defender, to reward Marissa Sheva\u2019s cross and put Ireland 2-1 ahead with 19 minutes remaining, the 12,579 crowd inside P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh let out a yell usually reserved for the Munster hurling final.<\/p>\n
Twice Ireland took the lead. Twice the Dutch reeled them in before Barrett produced a moment to sit close to her Hampden Park heroics from 2022.<\/p>\n
For 18 minutes and change it was all going to plan. Arjan Veurnik\u2019s Dutch plan, that is. Oranje would dominate possession and soak up Ireland\u2019s speculative counter-attacks, all the while ensuring that Katie McCabe played more at left-back than left wing.<\/p>\n
An outstanding collective performance from Ward\u2019s side in Utrecht last March meant that the Netherlands were forewarned. On that night, it took a second goal from Lineth Beerensteyn to secure a 2-1 victory. For 82 minutes, Ireland had matched the football nation ranked 11th in the world in all aspects of play. Afterwards, Veurnik suggested that Ireland never actually played any football. His comments and actions were not well received by Ireland head coach Carla Ward.<\/p>\n
This time Ireland outplayed the Netherlands for 90 minutes and change.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/P55FQBCC6VCDHPBWJ4HMPRPV3Q.jpg\")
Ireland’s Kyra Carusa celebrates scoring her side\u2019s first goal of the game. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Ward\u2019s team performed in Utrecht without Denise O\u2019Sullivan and had to do so again in Cork. The Liverpool midfielder\u2019s suspension for a second yellow card, along with Emily Murphy, who has been a revelation through the campaign, meant that direct qualification seemed beyond Ireland.<\/p>\n
France\u2019s 2-0 defeat of Poland in Gdansk on Friday afternoon pushed them closer to the World Cup playoffs draw on June 24th unless two miracle results, similar to the men\u2019s side last November when they beat Portugal and Hungary, could be replicated. Halfway there.<\/p>\n
A sodden night in Cork came to life when Ruesha Littlejohn lobbed the Dutch defence for Larkin to feed Kyra Carusa. Time slowed down as Carusa appeared to mishit a shot that dribbled past Lize Kop into the visitor\u2019s net. Turns out, the San Diego native placed her left foot finish beyond the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
What made the goal even sweeter was Ward trusted the injury-prone Littlejohn and 21-year-old Larkin to fill the boots of O\u2019Sullivan and Murphy.<\/p>\n
Littlejohn was excellent in the first half, slowing the game down with clever movement or the simple pass. Considering the veteran midfielder\u2019s long standing Achilles issue, it was no surprise to see Jess Ziu introduced for the second half. <\/p>\n
Th Dutch really should have scored before the break. Barcelona\u2019s Esmee Brugts effort went wide of Courtney Brosnan\u2019s post, Lynn Wilms hammered the crossbar and Rome\u00e9 Leuchter\u2019s header from close range should have found the target.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780699869_147_4MX2AUN4HJBRPCP3SG4JSZNNL4.jpg\")
Ireland’s Abbie Larkin celebrates with Jessica Ziu and Kyra Carusa after she scores her side’s seconnd goal of the match. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n
More chances would have fallen for the Netherlands only Caitlin Hayes refused to lose an aerial contest in the Ireland box. The Brighton defender was exceptional all night long.<\/p>\n
As the rain swirled around The P\u00e1irc, Sheva invited Larkin to shoot on sight but the Crystal Palace forward was gobbled up by the Dutch defence.<\/p>\n
Veurink had seen enough, making three changes on 55 minutes as Danielle van de Donk, Jackie Groenen and Melissa Olislagers were charged with taking control of a contest that was being dictated by Irish structure and discipline.<\/p>\n
Ireland lived with France in Tallaght and the Dutch away from home until their legs and minds wobbled against players operating at Champions League level. Sure enough, as the clock ticked past the hour mark, Brosnan needed to make two vital saves from Beerensteyn and Groenen.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands first equaliser came in the 68th minute when Beerensteyn destroyed Ireland in transition. A more cynical team would have cut down Wolfsburg winger before she could slip a ball into the box where Aoife Mannion upended Groenen.<\/p>\n
Brosnan got a hand to Dominique Janssen\u2019s penalty.<\/p>\n
Not a minute had elapsed when Sheva skimmed a delivery from the right to the front post where Larkin arrived with a classy finish.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780699869_809_6QP5MEV4XRB5PPXQWIMKXTN6P4.jpg\")
Ireland’s Amber Barrett scores her side’s third goal of the match. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Ward can be slow to make changes but it was time for reinforcements. Larkin and Carusa made way for Leanne Kiernan and Barrett.<\/p>\n
The second equaliser came from a moment of individual quality by Victoria Pelova. The Dutch substitute got goal side on Chloe Mustaki, evaded Hayes and drilled a shot that silenced the raucous Cork crowd.<\/p>\n
But Sheva came again, supplying the ball that Anna Patten headed across goal for Barrett to make it 3-2.<\/p>\n
Deep in injury-time, Kiernan was sent off on a second yellow card, but 10-woman Ireland held on for a momentous win.<\/p>\n
Ireland: Brosnan; Mannion, Patten, Hayes, Mustaki, McCabe; Sheva, Connolly (Noonan 85), Littlejohn (Ziu 46); Larkin (Kiernan 76); Carusa (Barrett 76). <\/p>\n
Netherlands: Kop; Wilms, Janssen, Buurman, Levels (Olislagers 55); Kaptein (Pelova 75), Egurrola (Groenen 56), Peddemors (de Donk 55); Beerensteyn, Leuchter (Rijsbergen 75), Brugts.<\/p>\n
Referee: Katalin Kulcsar (Hungary).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republic of Ireland 3 (Carusa 19, Larkin 71, Barrett 90) Netherlands 2 (Janssen pen 70, Palova 81) Amber…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[19000,61,60,18998,112,176619],"class_list":["post-485247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-amber-barrett","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt","tag-sports","tag-women-s-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485247","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=485247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}