Exciting finale to Group B shows gap between nations getting smaller

The stakes were high for the Republic of Ireland in their second group game against Canada in Perth, and while we ran the Olympic champions - and Australia before them - close, ultimately the Girls in Green are exiting the World Cup after the group stages.

It was a big achievement to qualify for the competition. Another landmark was reached in the game against Canada when Katie's corner led to a goal - the first for Ireland ever at a major tournament.

When the girls look back on this time they will hopefully have a feeling of pride rather than disappointment, which they may be feeling right now. Yes, as players we have the highest standards and anything less than victory can be hard to mentally process.

Being at the pinnacle of the sport, the external pressure and expectations can also play a part in this. However, those expectations are not in any way a part of the nation's thoughts.

The country is so proud of what they have seen from the girls thus far. We knew a result was needed against a Canadian side who also needed a win to improve their chances of progressing. Ultimately the result wasn’t what we had all hoped for, or that they deserved, but nonetheless we will carry even more learnings from this game into our final group game against Nigeria tomorrow.

On the other side of the group, Australia were beaten by Nigeria in Brisbane a day later. A result few would have predicted but with Australia still missing their key player in Sam Kerr, and a back-up in shape of Mary Fowler, it wasn’t pretty viewing for the Aussies. A shock but deserved Nigeria 3-2 win leaves the group wide open going into the final games.

We need your consent to load this YouTube content We use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on