ROMA MCLAUGHLIN’S injury frustrations continued as the Republic of Ireland Women’s U-19s opened their Uefa European Championship qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw with Slovenia.
The Greencastle native (pictured above), who now plays for Peamount United in Dublin, underwent knee surgery in the summer and only last 28 minutes of her return this evening in Gornja Radgona.
Dave Connell’s team, who have Fanad native Mazz Sweeney as part of the backroom team, were playing the first of three First Phase games in Slovenia and they got off to a great start with Megan Connolly heading in the opening goal on 30 minutes.
The hosts hit back late on through Spela Kolbl only after Evelyn Daly had a goal disallowed, which would have put Ireland 2-0 up going into the closing stages of their Group 10 game.
“It took us probably half an hour to settle into the game and adapt to the pitch, but once we did we completely dominated the game,” said Connell.
“We bombarded their goal, hitting the post twice, the crossbar twice, and keeping them under serious pressure. Then with three minutes to go, Evelyn Daly headed in, their goalkeeper slipped, and the lines-person raised the flag.
“We feel a little hard done by but that’s football and you have to get on with it. We’ll just have to do the business on the pitch on Thursday and Sunday and we’ll be going into those games aiming to pick up the maximum points.”
Next up for Ireland is a clash with Bulgaria on Thursday afternoon, which Ireland will be fired up for especially when they evaluate their overall performance from this game.
Connolly notched in their goal – heading back across after connecting with a corner kick – but there were a number of stand-out displays from Connell’s side and he will be pleased with their effort.
The task now is to focus solely on picking up the three points on offer in their next outing as they chase qualification to next summer’s finals in Slovakia. In the other game in the group, Russia beat Bulgaria 4-0.
Republic of Ireland: Dunne; Finn, Keenan, Moloney, J Nolan; Daly, H Nolan; McKevitt (Beirne 62), McCarthy, McLaughlin (Ryan Doyle 28); Connolly.
Slovenia: Nemet; Senica (Nemec 86), Godina, Jelen, Rozmaric; Babnik, Horvat (Legenic 59); Kolbl, Predanic, Turk (Kustrin 62); Prasnikar.
