Republic of Ireland draw in Cardiff to leave Euro 2025 play-off in balance

It's honours even after a predictably bruising international derby in Cardiff.

Wales drew first blood with a clinically taken Lily Woodham goal following a Niamh Fahey error, but the Republic of Ireland are nothing if not resilient. Ruesha Littlejohn's long-ranger crashed off the bar and found its way into the net off the back of the unfortunate Olivia Clark to level things up.

That’s how it stayed as the two sides effectively cancelled each other out. Ireland return to Aviva Stadium on Tuesday with every chance of getting over the line and making it to a first ever European Championships. But Wales will fancy their chances too having shown they possess enough to make things nervy for Eileen Gleeson’s side when they resume battle in Dublin.

That game might be the sort of blockbuster we were never going to get tonight. First legs are usually phoney wars, and so it proved. A rousing rendition of Land Of My Fathers energised the crowd but the early action was passive and scrappy.

The home attacking trio of Jess Fishlock, Ffionn Morgan and Rachel Rowe whirled around on a rotating carousel, looking for cracks in Ireland’s five-player defensive setup. There were flashes of promise for both teams, but nothing of real substance in those opening exchanges.

The hard-working Kyra Carusa intelligently nodded Fahey’s searching pass into the path of Julie-Ann Russell, who should have done better than scooping a rushed effort wide. Carusa did well again to escape down the right and fizz in a cross for Russell – this time the Galway United star’s volley was blocked by Rhiannon Roberts.

Ireland looked reasonably secure but on 20 minutes they got caught rotten by sharp play and sloppy defending. A collective lapse in concentration allowed