Albania 0 Republic of Ireland 1
[O’Sullivan 88]
A three-hour game of football. The clock read 87.30 when Denise O’Sullivan profited from her own magnificent moment. It was a goal that deserved to win any game, particularly this bizarre Nations League tie, as the Cork maestro controlled Izzy Atkinson’s speculative ball into the box before slipping Kyra Carusa down the end line.
Carusa returned the favour for O’Sullivan to sneak the winner under Matilda Gjergji to mean Ireland have won the group with two games to spare after Northern Ireland drew with Hungary in Belfast.
But that’s not the story of this three-hour contest. Not even close. A torrential Halloween night in Shkodër forced Armenian referee Araksya Saribekyan to suspend the match at half-time.
After an hour and 15 minutes, when all four seasons passed through the Albanian city, Saribekyan restarted a game that seemed certain to be finished on Wednesday afternoon. The referee followed protocols, hence the 60-plus-minute pause, to allow the thunderstorm to pass.
It did. The waterlogged pitch at Loro Boriçi stadium had appeared unplayable, due to a relentless downpour from the 20th minute. However, at the interval, two people appeared on the sodden turf to sweep away sheets of water. Both deserve a pay rise.
The locals sensibly checked the weather forecast before leaving home. Few supporters could be seen inside the ground as RTÉ commentator George Hamilton branded the occasion a “dirty, wet night.”
According to Uefa regulations, the FAI would have had to cover the cost of staying an extra night near the Montenegro border and to extend their chartered flight. “If the match is rescheduled through no fault of either association,” reads Uefa article 37, “each party bears its own expenses related to the original fixture and the rescheduled match or remaining match time.”
It was windy during the anthems, nothing more. Then came the thunder and by Ireland’s fifth corner, a deluge was asking ridiculous questions of all 22 players. Plenty of them thrived in the conditions. Sinead Farrelly and Carusa might be fair weather Americans by birth but they worked and scrapped as much as anyone.
Farrelly’s light touch and ability to predict where Katie McCabe would appear almost broke the deadlock. On dry grass, they are a lethal combination.
But the rains came, and a routine Irish win was quickly transformed into a lottery for Eileen Gleeson’s side. The pitch had become a pond by the half-hour mark.
To escape to victory, Ireland could have done with a goal in the opening exchanges, when slick passing was still possible. Louise Quinn shot wide with the best chance after O’Sullivan attempted to bludgeon McCabe’s corner over the goal line.
The Albanian wall held. In between the stoppages, the contest became a glorified training session – Ireland attacking as the home team defended with impressive discipline.
Interestingly, Gleeson plumped for Erin McLaughlin, the Peamount United midfielder, as the second striker behind Carusa. It was a curious call as McCabe dominated Albania from the position last Friday, scoring a hat-trick and creating two goals for Carusa in the 5-1 result.
The lesson from four days ago was to test the diminutive Albania goalkeeper Fabiol Rexhepi at every opportunity. But Ireland failed to take anywhere near enough shots or send balls into the box for Carusa and McLaughlin to utilise their height.
Abbie Larkin was preferred on the right ahead of Everton’s Heather Payne for a second game. The teenager’s cross did cut through the downpour, finding the head of O’Sullivan but the Cork woman also missed the target.
Nil-all at the break, Saribekyan allowed one second of injury time before everyone raced for shelter.
Gleeson changed tactics for the resumption with Farrelly and McLaughlin making way for Payne and Jamie Finn. Payne instantly went about reclaiming her position. Izzy Atkinson also arrived on the hour mark, and she looked the likeliest attacker to unlock the low block. The West Ham winger’s looping delivery to the back post found McCabe on 73 minutes but the skipper headed over.
Rexhepi might be tiny for an international goalie but her bravery and reflexes cannot be questioned as she took heavy contact to deny Carusa from a McCabe free-kick. She got up to block O’Sullivan from point blank range but the North Carolina Courage skipper refused to leave this marathon game without all three points. Pure stubbornness got Ireland home.
Albania: Rexhepi; Gjini, Maliqi, Berisha, Hila; Krasniqi, Franja, Hamidi; Doci, Maksuti, Tukaj.
Substitutions: Gjergji for Gjini (half-time), Metalla for Hamidi (63).
Ireland: Brosnan (Everton); Hayes (Glasgow Celtic), Quinn (Birmingham City), Caldwell (FC Zurich); Larkin (Glasgow City), Toland (Blackburn Rovers), O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Farrelly (NY/NJ Gotham), McCabe (Arsenal); McLaughlin (Peamount United), Carusa (San Diego Wave).
Substitutions: Finn (Birmingham City) for Farrelly, Payne (Everton) for McLaughlin (both half-time), Atkinson (West Ham United) for Larkin (63).
Referee: Araksya Saribekyan (Armenia).
