England have too much class for spirited Girls in Green

England glided past the Republic of Ireland with a classy, ruthlessly efficient performance in Tuesday night's Euro 2025 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.

Last Friday France had 21 efforts and just one goal to show for it when they beat the Girls in Green. Here, Sarina Wiegman's reigning European champions rattled the net twice from the six attempts they fashioned in a commanding first half.

Lauren James drilled home the opener on 12 minutes, and Alex Greenwood converted a penalty seven minutes later after Ruesha Littlejohn was penalised for a handball. Greenwood hit the post when the visitors won another spot-kick just before the half-hour mark.

Eileen Gleeson’s charges – limited, but typically spirited – did have their moments in the second half. One of Megan Campbell’s trademark long throws led to a chance that Anna Patten mishit; and Caitlin Hayes drew a smart save from Hannah Hampton after a back-post header. Katie McCabe also tested Hampton in an encouraging final 15 minutes, but the hosts could not get the goal the majority of the 32,742 crowd craved.

England, loaded with winning experience, saw it out to condemn Ireland to another loss.

This one was not without its positives; just another reminder of how brutally competitive life at the top is going to be in this challenging qualification campaign.

Ireland stuck with the 5-4-1 setup they adopted against France, though there was a couple of tweaks to the lineup. McCabe went to left wing-back, Aoife Mannion was stationed on the right, while Lucy Quinn and Littlejohn were brought into the engine room.

From the tip-off, Carusa nudged the ball to O'Sullivan who immediately went on the attack. It looked like a signal of intent, but the hosts would soon drop into a deep block