Eileen Gleeson: Ireland failed to do simple thing well against Wales

Republic of Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson lamented a failure to do the simple things well after her side's 2-0 loss at home to Wales in Tallaght Stadium this evening.

Early goals from Jess Fishlock and Lily Woodham condemned Ireland to a first defeat of the Gleeson reign, the first since Canada eliminated the side from the group stage at last summer's World Cup.

"The first half, we made it very difficult for ourselves," Gleeson told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue after the game.

"Didn't take care of the ball. Didn't do the simple things well. As an overall performance we wouldn't be happy with that.

"The only thing we can take from it is it was nowhere near what we can do. We just have to move on from it. It is a loss. We have to be able to sustain these moments as well.

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"We lost Niamh [Fahey] in the warm-up. That can sometimes unsettle the starting moments, which, probably, it did have a bit of an impact. But Diane [Caldwell] was ready to step in and she picked up an injury as well. You have to adapt to these as well. It took us too long to do that."

Ireland's first half 4-2-3-1 formation appeared to spark confusion among the hosts and they switched to three centre-backs for what was an improved second half display. Gleeson, however, played down the impact of the formation change.

"The thinking behind that was to get two strikers up rather than get more defenders back. Not sure it was about the four or the five (at the back), it was more about the simple things. If we