Ireland's Euros dreams shattered as Wales edge gripping play-off

(Wales win 3-2 on aggregate)

The Republic of Ireland's Euro 2025 dreams were shattered by Wales on an exhaustingly dramatic night at Aviva Stadium.

The Girls in Green got out of Cardiff with a 1-1 draw last Friday, and were fancied to finish off their Celtic cousins in front of a partisan Dublin crowd. But their hopes unravelled in gut-wrenchingly frustrating fashion.

Hannah Cain’s 50th-minute penalty, awarded for an Anna Patten handball, was a critical turning point; once Carrie Jones slid home a second 18 minutes later, the writing was on the wall.

Patten did get one back in the closing stages to set up a monumental finish, but Rhian Wilkinson’s team held on. Hungry, well drilled and clinical, they just about deserved their victory, with Ireland now forced to lick their wounds until their Nations League B campaign begins against Turkey in February.

Misty rain descended on Lansdowne Road as the curtain rose for kick-off.

There was a skittish energy about things from the off, but the Welsh didn’t take long to show what they were capable of. A loose Julie-Ann Russell pass allowed the jet-heeled Hannah Cain to skate down the right and whip in a cross that Niamh Fahey lashed clear.

Ruesha Littlejohn was then guilty of coughing up cheap possession that triggered a fluid break involving Jess Fishlock, Rowe and Cain. Patten scrambled it away in the nick of time, but that forward trio would continue to cause problems.

A nervy opening was encapsulated by Jessie Stapleton and Payne crashing into each other in the centre circle as they both fixed their eyes a dropping ball. Wires were crossed in the electricity of battle.

Page one of the Wales game plan was obvious: wind up McCabe. The Ireland captain went in the book on 17 minutes for