The painful truth about yesterday's World Cup Qualifying match at Tolka Park is that the public address announcer had a lot more trouble with the Poles in the course of the 90 minutes than the Republic of Ireland. . . but while he ended up with a standing ovation from a section of the crowd, the team ended up with nothing after a 1-0 defeat.
"And the Poland substitution is number 13 Mariola Silwonczyk for number three Agnieszka Szondermajer," he struggled to announce. "Whoooh," said the crowd, appreciative of his efforts. He stood up, took a bow and sat back down again, with a large grin on his face.
It was Szondermajer's goal, a minute into injury time in the first half, that settled the match and leaves Poland top of Group Six on seven points, four ahead of Ireland, who have played one match less. Hopes of qualifying for the 1999 World Cup Finals weren't exactly dashed at Tolka Park, but yesterday's defeat leaves a lot of work to be done by this Irish team if they are to make it to America. As sporting `miscarriages of justice' go, this match took the biscuit. For the opening 45 minutes the Irish mounted relentless waves of attacks, with the outstanding front two of Geraldine O'Shea and Grainne Kierans, supported from midfield by Olivia O'Toole and Rosie Power, causing consternation in the Polish defence every time they swept forward.
O'Shea, in particular, was a joy to behold. The 19-year-old Listowel Celtic player is a sporting all-rounder, with All Ireland Gaelic football medals (with Kerry) and an All Star award to her name. "She's very exciting," said Irish manager Mick Cooke of the forward after the match. "If she was a fella she'd be in the coupleof-million-pounds bracket." A couple of million? Multiply that by ten. She ran the Poles ragged for much of the opening period, drifting from left to right and back again, turning both fullbacks inside out and outside in with her trickery. In the first ten minutes she fractionally over-hit through balls that came close to setting up goals for O'Toole and Angie McNally. In the 54th minute Anna Kijas was booked for hacking her down at the edge of the box - it was the closest a Polish defender got to her for much of the match.
It was McNally who came closest to scoring in the opening quarter when Kierans dispossessed Anastazja Kubiak in midfield and switched the ball left to the Rathfarnham player - her shot from 25 yards was just inches over the bar. Ten minutes before the break excellent work down the left by Gillian Bennett set up O'Toole in the box but her left foot shot flew wide and right of the target.
By now the Poles had barely experienced life outside their own half, with their front two camped on the half-way line as their colleagues attempted to weather the storm. On the rare occasion that they ventured forward, the Irish back three of Bernie Reilly, Carol Conlon and captain Yvonne Lyons dealt with ease with the threat.
The warning bells sounded in the 40th minute when a mix-up at the centre of the Irish defence gave Polish captain Mariola Silwonczyk the best chance of the game but, after the ball fell at her feet just six yards from goal, she blazed her shot over the bar. Six minutes later Szondermajer struck. The Polish left back won the ball just outside the box, and with Irish goalkeeper Sue Hayden off her line, Szondermajer's lob dropped just under the bar. The Poles had their celebrations cut short by the half time whistle; the Irish looked to the heavens for some justification for what had happened.
It was more of the same in the second half, but constant Irish pressure yielded nothing. Another superb run down the left by O'Shea set up Ciara Grant but, again, the Polish keeper watched an Irish effort sail over the bar. Tiring legs reduced the pace of the Irish attacks and, hard as they tried, they could not force the equaliser. "We dominated the first half completely," said Irish captain Yvonne Lyons at full time. "But we missed numerous chances and then she just lobbed the keeper and that was it - one of us should have clocked her but that's the way it goes. We came back we fire in our hearts in the second half - I just don't know how we didn't get a goal back."
"Very disappointed," said Irish manager Mick Cooke. "We worked very hard, I couldn't have asked for any more from them. They gave it everything, it was just bad luck in the end. The girls are very upset but we have Wales now in the next two games and I'm confident we can beat them home and away - that will set up the Poland match away as the big one and I know we can go there and beat them."
"We did everything right, there was just one lapse of concentration - we had told the girls that they couldn't afford to back off and let them shoot, they gave her a chance and we were punished - other than that I was very pleased with the performance."
