Connolly and O’Sullivan goals get Ireland past Finland
FORMER Peamount United star Denise O’Sullivan grabbed a 56th-minute goal at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium this evening to give the Republic of Ireland women’s national team a 2-1 win over Finland in Group A of the UEFA World Cup qualifiers.
A native of Cork who enjoyed a couple of spells at the Newcastle club in the past, O’Sullivan headed home after Adelina Engman had cancelled out Megan Connolly’s opener.
Following an agonising loss to Sweden at the Tallaght Stadium last Thursday, this victory gets the Republic up and running ahead of home double-headers against Slovakia and Georgia next month.
Ireland manager Vera Pauw kept faith with the same starting line-up from the Sweden game, which meant Peamount skipper Aine O’Gorman was included in a side that was led once again by Kilnamanagh’s Katie McCabe.
Outside of O’Sullivan, there was another former Peas player on show in the form of towering centre-half Louise Quinn.
Ireland bravely took the game to the hosts during the early exchanges and their persistent hounding of the Finland defence paid dividends when Brighton midfielder Connolly curled a free-kick beyond the reach of opposition netminder Tinja-Riikka Korpela.
This was the ideal start to the contest for Ireland but, as was expected, the Fins grew into the game as it developed.
Linda Sällström and Natalia Kuikka both headed just over Courtney Brosnan’s crossbar and the home team were posing a considerable presence from set-pieces.
Equally, Jamie Finn forced a fine stop out of Korpela as the interval approached.
With Savannah McCarthy making a number of telling interventions in defence, Ireland held out to lead 1-0 at the break.
They remained in the ascendancy on the hour mark, but not without encountering some drama along the way. McCabe was receiving treatment for an injury when Adelina Engman pounced for an equaliser seven minutes after the restart.
This came as a set-back to Ireland, but their response was immediate and emphatic. After Korpela spilled a Heather Payne cross from the right-wing, O’Sullivan was on hand to head home for her 13th senior international goal.
This placed Ireland on the brink of their first win in the group and unquestionably the biggest triumph of Pauw’s reign thus far. Although McCabe was close to wrapping up the three points on a couple of occasions, there were some shaky moments late on.
Niamh Fahey cleared a header off the line in a frantic finale and Brosnan produced a fine stop from Emma Koivisto on 87 minutes.
However, Ireland dug deep and can now look forward with considerable hope and optimism.