![\"Denise](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SLMJA3YS26WFUQO7YTV3PZE3FY.jpg\")
Denise O’Sullivan in action against Kazakhstan on Tuesday night. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/INPHO <\/p>\n
Player of the match Denise O\u2019Sullivan: \u201cIt\u2019s always special to play here in Cork, it\u2019s where I grew up, it\u2019s where the people supported me through my whole career, and it\u2019s how I got to where I am.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a different game tonight, Kazakhstan did really well, they probably learned from the other night, they sat back, they were seven deep at times. It posed a different challenge for us, but we got the job done.\u201d <\/p>\n
The play-off final?<\/p>\n
\u201cPoland are a good side, they have a world class striker [Barcelona\u2019s Ewa Pajor], but we have great players, we\u2019re up for the challenge, we\u2019ll be fully ready in six weeks.\u201d <\/p>\n
Full-time: Ireland 4 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
Job done. True, pre-match predictions that Ireland would top their record win – 11-0 against Georgia in 2021 – were wide of the mark, this not being quite the ruthless performance head coach Carla Ward had demanded. Still, she\u2019ll hardly complain about a 12-0 aggregate victory that puts Ireland through to a play-off final against Poland. Two games away, then, from World Cup qualification for just the second time. Poland have never qualified for a World Cup, so you\u2019d imagine they\u2019ll be rather eager to break that duck.<\/p>\n
80 mins: Kyra Carusa is on for Emily Murphy. It\u2019s now 12-0 for Ireland on aggregate with 10 minutes to go, so it might be safe to assume that they\u2019re through to a World Cup qualifying play-off final against Poland in December. <\/p>\n
Ireland 4 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
74 mins: GOAL! Denise O\u2019Sullivan<\/p>\n
The hometown girl makes it four. A lovely one-two between Amber Barrett and Jessie Stapleton sends the latter through, her shot is saved but O\u2019Sullivan buries the rebound. <\/p>\n
Ireland 4 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
70 mins: GOAL! Lucy Quinn<\/p>\n
The neatest of footwork from Emily Murphy just inside the box, she then played it left to Tyler Toland who was a bit twinkle-toed herself before her cross fell to Lucy Quinn after a deflection or two – and she rifled it in to the bottom left corner. <\/p>\n
Ireland 3 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
61 mins: As ever, Marissa Sheva has been lively, adding some much needed energy to Ireland\u2019s efforts after she came on at the break. Karen Duggan wondered at half-time if a bit of complacency had set in. Could be, it\u2019s been the flattest of performances so far. Amber Barrett and Lucy Quinn are on for Abbie Larkin and Aoife Mannion. <\/p>\n
Ireland 2 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
48 mins: GOAL! Katie McCabe<\/p>\n
Emily Murphy sets up the Irish captain at the edge of the box and she sends a left foot shot in to the bottom right corner. We withdraw our praise of the Kazakhstan goalie.<\/p>\n
Ireland 2 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
Two changes for Ireland at the break, Tyler Toland and Marissa Sheva are on for Anna Patten and Shanade Hopcroft. <\/p>\n
Half-time: Ireland 1 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
You\u2019d imagine that the Irish players will receive quite a stern talking to from Carla Ward at the break after she had urged them to be ruthless in this second leg. They\u2019ve been far from that. It doesn\u2019t matter tonight, they\u2019re 9-0 up on aggregate after all, but it sure as heck will against Poland in December.<\/p>\n
45 mins: Shanade Hopcroft\u2019s header from Megan Connolly\u2019s corner grazes the outside of the left post. Really gutsy defending – and goalkeeping – from Kazakhstan tonight after the mullering they suffered in Astana. <\/p>\n
Ireland 1 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
41 mins: GOAL! Jessie Stapleton<\/p>\n
Clearly, the key to prompting Ireland in to scoring a goal is to whine about the non-clinical nature of their attack tonight. And with that, Jessie Stapleton powers home Anna Patten\u2019s cross. <\/p>\n
Ireland 1 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
38 mins: Abbie Larkin still proving to be Ireland\u2019s chief threat, but the Kazakhstan goalie does well to turn away her effort – and then she tips over an Emily Murphy shot. Those anticipating an avalanche of goals are, so far, disappointed. <\/p>\n
Ireland 0 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
28 mins: Cripes, still scoreless in Cork, not too many of us saw Kazakhstan holding out this long. No end of industry from Ireland, but they\u2019ve yet to find a way through the visitors\u2019 back eleven. Carla Ward is sporting a bit of a \u2018what the heck?\u2019 face on the sideline. <\/p>\n
Ireland 0 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
19 mins: Still scoreless in Cork, Ireland proving decidedly less clinical thus far than they were in Astana. <\/p>\n
Ireland 0 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
Bar Kazakhstan producing the greatest comeback in the history of association football, Ireland will be through to a World Cup qualifying play-off final where they will play …. Poland. They produced a sizeable enough upset by beating Belgium 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out in Gdansk. <\/p>\n
The provisional dates for that two-leg final are December 1st and 5th, Ireland at home in the second leg at the Aviva Stadium (5pm). Lest ye need reminding, the prize for the winners will be a place in next summer\u2019s World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n
7 mins: It\u2019s all Ireland so far, Abbie Larkin having an effort cleared off the line after she was picked out by a beaut of a pass by Anna Patten. And Patten came close herself when she had a goal-bound header from a corner scooped clear by a defender. <\/p>\n
Ireland 0 Kazakhstan 0<\/p>\n
Meantime, over in Gdansk, it\u2019s gone to penalties. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re about to get up and running in P\u00e1irc Ui Chaoimh – and it\u2019s a zinger in Gdansk. Jarne Teulings\u2019 extra-time goal looked like putting Belgium through, but Poland are now 3-2 up on the night, making it 3-3 on aggregate. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re in to extra-time in Gdansk, Poland and Belgium still level on aggregate. <\/p>\n
Who would Ireland like to prevail? Poland, probably. And that\u2019s not because they\u2019re ranked eight places below Ireland in the Fifa list, whereas Belgium are three places higher – you should never really pay much heed to rankings. It\u2019s more down to Ireland having beaten the Poles home and away as recently as April, in their World Cup qualifying group. Mind you, both wins were only by one-goal margins. <\/p>\n
Ireland and Belgium last met in the Nations League play-offs a year ago, Ireland winning the first leg 4-2 at the Aviva Stadium before losing the second 2-1 in Leuven. But Abbie Larkin\u2019s injury time goal gave Ireland a 5-4 aggregate win. <\/p>\n
Either way, it\u2019ll be a somewhat sterner test than the one poor Kazakhstan have offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland v Kazakhstan, Tuesday 7.30pm Hello all, welcome to our live updates from P\u00e1irc Ui Chaoimh where Ireland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[290449,290451,85,46,290450,290448,105],"class_list":["post-645455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-carla-ward","tag-denise-o-sullivan","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-katie-mccabe","tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}