I don’t think anyone was too enthused by what we saw from Ireland under Carla Ward in their Nations League B campaign. It was as if the team didn’t really know who it was, it had lost its identity. Well, against Belgium over the two legs of the playoff, it was as if a switch was flipped. Ireland looked a different beast.
They were excellent in the first leg last Friday, but what impressed me more than anything was how they responded to going 2-0 down in Leuven come Tuesday.
A lack of composure ultimately cost them in last year’s Euro 2025 playoff against Wales, they just didn’t have it in those crucial clutch moments. There could easily have been a mental hangover from that, especially when the brilliant Tessa Wullaert scored twice for Belgium in those six first-half minutes.
But this time they showed maturity, they reset. They got back on the front foot in the second half, they were more aggressive to the ball, they forced Belgium into mistakes. They were fitter too – Belgium ran out of steam, but Ireland forced it out of them.
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We worried that they might be short of leadership after so many of our most experienced players retired in the last while, but this team showed they still have it. It’s a testament to them the way they handled that second half. There was a mentality shift, they put the Wales memories to bed.
And so much of that leadership, not surprisingly, came from Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan is just a remarkable athlete and an absolute patriot. She would run through a brick wall for Ireland, probably quite literally. That we got 75 and 90 minutes out of her over these two legs, when she’d barely played at all since August, just shows the mentality she has. She’s a monster. And I suspect those late tackles on her were purposeful, they saw the influence she had on Friday’s game.
As for Katie, where do you start? You could tell from the earliest moments on Friday that there was a bullishness about her, like she knew this team had a point to prove. And that demeanour fed through the whole team.
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She hasn’t been at her best for Ireland in recent times, and she’s had a tough start to the season with Arsenal. Being dropped for their last Champions League game would have hurt. All the best players have an ego. And as Belgium learned, they’re especially dangerous when they feel like they have a point to prove.
Who else could do what she did on Friday? And on Tuesday, she was a huge part of that second-half recovery. She was front-footed, she stepped in at crucial moments when we needed a reprieve. She had the wherewithal to keep the ball, get it into the channels and win set pieces. And her delivery from them was unbelievable, they created chaos and unease in the Belgian defence, they were a major factor over the two legs.
Kyra Carusa and Emily Murphy deserve enormous credit too, even if they weren’t among the goals. Their combined work-rate set the tone, they never let the Belgian backline rest, keeping them under constant pressure and forcing them to play themselves in to trouble.
It took Murphy a few games to settle in with Ireland, but I think she has established herself now. She works really well alongside Carusa, and the pair allow us to play direct football and long balls when needs be.
Other than bringing Anna Patten back in to the starting line-up, I wouldn’t change too much going forward. She brought more legs to the midfield when we needed them after she replaced Ruesha Littlejohn, but it’s probably more likely that we’ll see her back in defence. There’s clearly still a question about midfield and having someone in there who can go the distance, but that’s a question for another day.
Carla Ward deserves credit too. I’d been unconvinced by her and the way she had this team playing. No more than players, managers have egos too, and until this playoff I think she had been unwilling to park hers.
She wanted the team to play the ‘Carla Ward way’, but it was uninspiring. Players have to acknowledge their limitations, managers need to as well. She has shown that she is willing to learn, and I’m heartened by that. Against Belgium, she allowed her team play much more to their strengths. And sometimes that is direct football. Not always pretty, not always perfect, but often effective.
So, sometimes you have to bend your principles for the greater good. It’s taken a little bit longer than I would have liked for her to get to know her team and get the best out of them, but I give her credit for being flexible. You would hope that this is the turning point.
One thing I didn’t like too much on Tuesday was all the talk in the post-match interviews about ‘the fighting Irish’. It was, yes, the fight in the Irish that helped them cross the line – the bravery, the work-rate, the resilience, the heart. But it was much more than that – at times we played really, really good football.
That progress will, of course, be seriously tested in League A. I’m not expecting miracles against opposition of that quality, but all that matters is qualifying for the next World Cup. At worst, we’ll have a playoff against a League B nation to achieve that feat. If we can take what we learned against Belgium in to those games, then we’ll have, well, a fighting chance.
