{"id":491651,"date":"2026-06-10T01:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/491651\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T01:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:25:12","slug":"france-1-ireland-0-ireland-impress-but-malards-stunner-sends-france-to-world-cup-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/491651\/","title":{"rendered":"France 1 Ireland 0: Ireland impress but Malard\u2019s stunner sends France to World Cup \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s World Cup qualifier: France 1 [Malard 40] Republic of Ireland 0<\/p>\n

At the foot of the French Alps, Ireland<\/a> were condemned to a scenic route to next year\u2019s World Cup. Only a win in Grenoble would have sent Ireland directly to Brazil, but instead they were beaten<\/a> by a French side that lurched from slick to harried, left clinging on at the death following Thiniba Samoura\u2019s red card midway through the second half. <\/p>\n

The decisive goal was ultimately Melvine Malard\u2019s acrobatic overhead kick shortly before half-time, and while Ireland will ultimately take confidence from another impressive performance against a giant of the game, they will be principally chastened at knowing that with better finishing \u2013 and a less imperious performance by the French goalkeeper \u2013 they could have guaranteed a place at the World Cup ahead of any reasonable schedule. <\/p>\n

Carla Ward<\/a> unsurprisingly returned to her tried and trusted from the off, parachuting Denise O\u2019Sullivan and Emily Murphy back into the team following their return from the suspension. O\u2019Sullivan was pinged twice by the referee for clattering into French players within the first five minutes: perhaps this was ring-rust on O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s part, but it was also emblematic of Ireland\u2019s besieged state of mind. <\/p>\n

\"\"Comfortable co-hosts? The weight of history and how Mexico & Canada are shaping up for the tournament<\/p>\n

France pinned Ireland deep with their midfield a whirr and blur of slick movement, all orchestrated by Sakina Karchoui, whose positioning called Ireland all manner of problems. It was Karchoui who slipped a neat pass down the side of the Irish defence for Malard, whose shot was batted away by Courtney Brosnan.<\/p>\n

Ireland didn\u2019t have a touch in the French box until the 14th minute, and that was an aimless header from a free-kick hoicked from the halfway line. The French pressure remained intense but Ireland stood tall, with Cailtin Hayes relishing her physical battle with Malard. Ireland\u2019s nerviest moment was self-inflicted, when Murphy wildly overcooked a backpass to Brosnan that sent the Irish goalkeeper scurrying back toward her own goalline. <\/p>\n

The Irish attitude was to hold out for as long as possible and hope the French \u2013 who needed only a draw to guarantee qualification \u2013 would be gripped by pressure and anxiety as the game slipped by, stirring fears on which Ireland could play. Even in Hail Mary excursions like this, it\u2019s better to prey than pray. <\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Kyra Carusa shoots under pressure from Ma\u00eblle Lakrar of France. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Alas that plan didn\u2019t survive to half-time. Six minutes before the break, the French took a quick corner which Ireland could not clear, and thus were caught admiring Malard as she leant back to cut a long, smooth arc through the air with her right foot; acrobatically firing the ball off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. It was a magnificent finish by Malard, who had broken her, er, duck against Ireland with both French goals in the reverse fixture in Tallaght at the start of the campaign. <\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s only half-time change was their mindset. Murphy, who had toiled across the opening half, prodded a clever pass in behind the French defence that sent O\u2019Sullivan gambolling clear. Her attempted cross for Marissa Sheva was intercepted but it was Ireland\u2019s most enterprising moment of the game. It suffused the team with confidence: a few minutes later Kyra Carusa smartly dummied on the edge of the box as part of a one-two with O\u2019Sullivan at the end of which she could regrettably not get her shot away. This lack of end product sadly augured the rest of the Irish performance.<\/p>\n

Sheva had a snap effort in the box that was brilliantly held by French goalkeeper Constance Picaud as Carusa loitered in front of her, ready to stab home any rebound. Moments later a splayed Picaud saved brilliantly once again, this time from Anna Patten. <\/p>\n

Ward turned to her bench, introducing Jess Ziu and Abbie Larkin, and it was the former\u2019s laser-guided through ball that sent Murphy clear on goal from the halfway line. Deciding discretion was no kind of valour, Samoura hauled Murphy back in spite of being booked earlier in the half. It was Samoura\u2019s last action as the referee flashed a second yellow and then a red. France immediately withdrew Malard for a defender to erect the barricades for the closing 20 minutes. <\/p>\n

So began a hectic Irish siege: Katie McCabe \u2013 subdued all night \u2013 shanked a shot miles wide from distance, while Larkin should have scored from point-blank range when the ball bounced her way, but was denied by the brilliant Picaud. <\/p>\n

There were a couple of minutes remaining when Ward pushed her chips in, throwing on Amber Barrett and Saoirse Noonan to try to provoke enough chaos from which Ireland could claw out history. It wasn\u2019t to be, and stoppage time featured the French coach manically yelling at his players to take the ball to the corner. This was a compliment to the Irish performance and proof of how far they have come, and how much further they may travel from here. <\/p>\n

FRANCE: Picaud; Sombath, Samoura, Lakrar, Bacha (N\u2019Dongola, 69); Geyoro (capt), Karchaoui (Gago, 88), Jean-Francois; Cascarino (Katoto, 69), Malard (Le Mogaudec, 72), Baltimore (Sangare, 88).<\/p>\n

IRELAND: Brosnan; Mannion (Noonan, 88), Patten, Hayes, Mustaki, McCabe (capt); Connolly (Ziu, 60), Sheva (Barrett, 88), O\u2019Sullivan; Murphy, Carusa (Larkin, 70). <\/p>\n

Referee: D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Blanco (Switzerland).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s World Cup qualifier: France 1 [Malard 40] Republic of Ireland 0 At the foot of the French…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18999,42,43,18998,40,38,41,39,176619],"class_list":["post-491651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-carla-ward","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-women-s-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491651","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=491651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}