A LITTLE more composure and maybe. Just maybe.
But substitute Leanne Kiernan couldn’t find the unmarked Katie McCabe inside the French penalty area with just minutes to go in last night’s Euro 2025 opener and the chance was gone.
It would have been one hell of a robbery if Ireland had come away with a point.
The hosts were in the ascendancy from the sixth minute, when Marie-Antoinette Katoto tapped home from close range, and their dominance was not reflected on the scoreboard.
If there were any lingering doubts about the gulf in quality between Leagues B and A, last night dispelled them completely.
The French could afford to leave 28 Champions League winners’ medals worth of talent on the bench, with one eye on next Tuesday’s clash with Sweden
Yet a little more composure from Kiernan, when she was played down the right by Lucy Quinn and had McCabe to aim for in the centre, and Ireland might well have claimed a most unlikely point.
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Match report from Mark McCadden
A LITTLE more composure and maybe. Just maybe.
But substitute Leanne Kiernan couldn’t find the unmarked Katie McCabe inside the French penalty area with just minutes to go in last night’s Euro 2025 opener and the chance was gone.
It would have been one hell of a robbery if Ireland had come away with a point.
The hosts were in the ascendancy from the sixth minute, when Marie-Antoinette Katoto tapped home from close range, and their dominance was not reflected on the scoreboard.
If there were any lingering doubts about the gulf in quality between Leagues B and A, last night dispelled them completely.
The French could afford to leave 28 Champions League winners’ medals worth of talent on the bench, with one eye on next Tuesday’s clash with Sweden
Yet a little more composure from Kiernan, when she was played down the right by Lucy Quinn and had McCabe to aim for in the centre, and Ireland might well have claimed a most unlikely point.
Last summer, Australia and Canada provided top-tier opposition for Ireland at the World Cup, but this France team is a couple of notches above that.
The pace of their play is something to behold. Unless, that is, you are defending against it, as Aoife Mannion, Heather Payne, Louise Quinn, Caitlin Hayes, Anna Patten were last night.
What an introduction to this level it was for Patten, a former England underage prospect who helped the Lionesses to third place in the Under-20 World Cup in 2018.
She won’t forget her senior international debut in a hurry, because she will have nightmares about the waves of blue shirts hurtling towards her again and again.
If they weren’t dealing with Delphine Cascarino’s trickery and speed in attack, it was Kenza Dali’s runs from midfield and fondness for a long-range shot, or Eve Perisset’s raids down one wing and Sakina Karchaoui’s down the other.
An injury ended Payne’s night after just over an hour in which she was largely on the backfoot and unable to use her own pace to get some Irish attacks going.
She conceded the free-kick that led to France’s sixth minute opener, a goal that seemed inevitable right from kick-off, while a half-time shuffle saw her move further up the pitch.
It was the kind of start that Ireland would have worked hard all week on avoiding, but all the hours on the training pitch in Dublin would not have prepared them for the ferocity of the early French play.
The hosts swarmed into the Irish half straight from kick-off and attacked from both flanks, sending a couple of dangerous early balls into the area.
Ireland might have started with a back-five, but the pace of the French attack was relentless and they had already looked like a serious threat from a couple of corners before their opener.
Defensively, Ireland were poor as Dali’s delivery made its way to the back post, where Maelle Lakrar got between Emily Murphy and Caitlin Hayes to connect with her right foot and send the ball across goal.
Katoto ghosted in and had the simplest of tap-ins to put the hosts in front.
France targeted the right-hand-side of the Irish defence, so when Courtney Brosnan picked up a timely knock, all 10 outfielders hurried to the technical area for a pow-wow with Gleeson.
But the French attacks kept coming, with Dali volleying wide from inside the area and shooting narrowly off-target from a few yards outside the box.
Sandie Toletti forced Brosnan into a finger-tip save and only Grace Geyoro will know how she failed to score shortly before half-time, after a Mannion mistake allowed Katoto to tee her up just eight yards from goal.
There were no moments of anxiety for France goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, with Ireland struggling to get out of their own half.
In one decent passage of play 15 minutes into the game, Emily Murphy’s backheel offered Payne a rare window, and when that closed the ball switched to the left flank.
There, Katie McCabe’s low cross was cleared only to Denise O’Sullivan, but she couldn’t bring the ball under control in time to get a shot off.
Gleeson’s half-time switch saw Megan Campbell come on for her first appearance since China early last year, with Mannion moving over to the right.
France continued to push and Brosnan had to get down to her left to push away Lakrar’s header, while substitute Eugeine Le Sommer cracked a header off the crossbar.
Amber Barrett and Leanne Kiernan were introduced as Gleeson looked to bring some fresh legs into the Irish attack, however Barrett joined Payne on the treatment table shortly after her arrival.
Such was the French dominance that goalkeeper Peyraud-Magnin’s first real taste of action was late in the game when a trademark Campbell throw was flicked on.
But it was an easy claim for the net-minder.
Player ratings
FRANCE
Pauline Peyraud-Magnin 6
Eve Perisset 7
Maelle Lakrar 8
READ MORE: France 1-0 Ireland: Early goal downs Eileen Gleeson's charges
Griedge Mbock 7
Sakina Karchaoui 7
Kenza Dali 8
Sandie Toletti 7
Grace Geyoro 7
Kadidiatou Diani 7
Marie-Antoinette Katoto 8
Delphine Cascarino 7
SUBS:
Vicki Becho (for Cascarino) 62: 6
Eugenie Le Sommer (for Katoto) 62: 7
Amandine Henry (for Toletti) 77
Wendie Renard (for Perisset) 77
Sandy Baltimore (for Diani) 84
IRELAND
Courtney Brosnan 8
Louise Quinn 7
Caitlin Hayes 7
Anna Patten 7
Heather Payne 6
Megan Connolly 6
Denise O’Sullivan 6
Katie McCabe 6
Aoife Mannion 6
Emily Murphy 6
Kyra Carusa 6
SUBS:
Megan Campbell (for Murphy) 46: 6
Leanne Kiernan (for Payne) 64: 6
Amber Barrett (for Karusa) 64
Lucy Quinn (for Barrett) 73
Jessie Stapleton (for Mannion) 90
France 1-0 Ireland
Excellent save from Brosnan at the death to keep Ireland in the game.
France 1-0 Ireland
McCabe finds Lucy Quinn in space, but her cross sails armlessly wide. 5 minutes added time.
'91
France 1-0 Ireland
So poor from Kiernan. Ireland pounce on a loose ball and move up the right wing. Kiernan has McCabe in acres of space in the area but horribly over-hits her cross. That was a huge chance for Ireland.
'87
France 1-0 Ireland
Campbell's throw-in flicked on by Hayes but it's easily saved by the keeper.
'86
France 1-0 Ireland
McCabe's cross is headed clear. Ireland trying to pour on some pressure here.
'85
France 1-0 Ireland
First chance for Megan Campbell to fire a throw-in into the box. The French defend well, break at pace and win a free-kick in a dangerous area.
'81
France 1-0 Ireland
12 minutes to play in Metz. Ireland need a goal, but haven't created an opportunity of note as of yet.
'78
France 1-0 Ireland
Amber Barrett has to come off after only lasting a few minutes on the field of play. Lucy Quinn comes on in her place.
'75
France 1-0 Ireland
McCabe finally gets a chance to deliver a free-kick, but it is well dealt with by France.
'70
France 1-0 Ireland
Stunning Le Sommer header draws an even better save from Brosnan. She has no been yellow carded finally for time-wasting, but Brosnan has been immense this evening.
'65
France 1-0 Ireland
France's record scorer Le Sommer is on, while Leanne Kiernan enters the fray for Ireland.
France 1-0 Ireland
Ireland really haven't had a sniff in this half yet. France well on top and are threatening to get a second.
'58
France 1-0 Ireland
One change was made by Ireland at the break. Megan Campbell on for Emily Murphy.
'51
France 1-0 Ireland
France on top, but the second-half has yet to truly settle into a pattern yet.
'50
Ireland react to conceding
France 1-0 Ireland
Pull-back finds Geyoro but she fluffs her lines with the goal at her mercy. Ireland need half-time.
'43
France 1-0 Ireland
Dali's left footed shot goes wide. Ireland again the masters of their own potential downfall by giving the ball away needlessly.
'40
France 1-0 Ireland
Rasping drive from Toletti is tipped over by Brosnan. Some strike from the Frenchwoman, she was a full 30 yards out there.
'34
France 1-0 Ireland
Mannion dicing with death there pulling a French player down in the box. She gets away with it, but Ireland are starting to creak here.
'28
