Niamh Fahey Encouraged By Ireland’s Tough World Cup Start

Liverpool defender Niamh Fahey’s Republic of Ireland side lost in a tough 1-0 to host nation Australia in the second match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Despite the poor result, however, Ireland — who featured in a tournament for the first time — made the game difficult for the hosts.

Speaking after the match, Fahey unpacked the mixed emotions her team felt following their opening result:

“There are an awful lot of positives to take, though we are disappointed now. We are proud of the performance and we need to take that into the Canada game.

“We pushed on when we went one-nil down. There was a bit of cat and mouse at the start, you can’t really expose yourself at the start too much as they gad a lot of pace in behind. We showed when we went for them we really put them under pressure.

“There wasn’t much in it at all and we went toe-to-toe with them for the majority of the second half.

“We defended well as a whole team. We put in such a shift trying to keep them at bay, nullifying their strengths. [Goalkeeper] Courtney Brosnan wasn’t as busy as she has been in other games, so that’s the frustrating part.”

Fahey and her team will hope to raise attacking performances to get out of a tough group as the World Cup continues, with Fahey next featuring against Canada on July 26th.