By Alyce Collett (08/04/2025)
Above: Ireland celebrate their win. Photo: Ireland Football
The Republic of Ireland has made it two wins from as many matches against Greece this international window, after winning 2-1 tonight in Dublin.
The Girls in Green dominated in many key areas but just could not finish cleanly in front of goal. The Irish goals came from Amber Barrett and Anna Patten, while the Greeks pegged one back late off the boot of star midfielder Veatriki Sarri.
Unlike the first match between the sides this window, the Republic of Ireland were on the front foot early, dominating possession and pressing high, putting the Greeks under plenty of pressure. The Irish were finally playing with the true confidence that had perhaps been missing for a while, and were showing the dominance that had perhaps been expected of them all campaign.
The Irish dominance was rewarded early when Barrett perfectly converted a penalty kick in the ninth minute.
However as the half progressed, as much as the home side were dominating possession, the Greek defence sat back and crowded the box, making it harder for the Irish to get shots on goal, which led them to take shots that were rushed and from further out.
Barrett’s goal was ultimately the only goal in the first half, with plenty to think about for both sides ahead of the second half.
The Republic of Ireland took even less time in the second half to score a goal than they did in the first, after Patten headed in a goal to convert a strong Megan Campbell corner within the first five minutes of the half.
Despite being well beaten in many areas for most of the night, Greece never gave up hope of finding themselves a goal, and they eventually did with a long strike from Sarri in the 72nd minute.
This gave the visitors a bit of a boost, who took control of possession and controlled things for a bit, which was helped along by a drop in the quality of the Irish passing.
However the Republic of Ireland did eventually wrestle control of the match back, but as much as they were controlling the game, a crowded box full of Greek defenders meant that the shots on goal the home side were taking were often from far out and rarely on target.
One player who impressed for the home side from opening whistle to final whistle was Aoife Mannion, who despite playing as a centre back was at times more playing like a wing back, getting high up the pitch and creating nice attacking drive on multiple occasions.
Despite picking up a vital three points, the Republic of Ireland will need to get their scoring boots on in the final two matches of the leagues if they want to catch up to group leaders Slovenia and automatically qualify for promotion back to League A. Slovenia’s goal difference is currently seven goals better than the Girls in Green’s.
Teams: IRELAND (4-3-3): Brosnan, Campbell, Stapleton, Patten, Mannion, O’Sullivan, Toland, Sheva, Quinn, Barrett, Kiernan. Substitutes: Hayes, Littlejohn, Clancy, Noonan, Kavanagh, Moloney, Larkin, Murphy, Mustaki, Whitehouse.
Scorers: Barrett 9’ (P), Patten 50’
GREECE (3-5-2): Nasi, Palama, Markou, Paterna, Mitkou, Sarri, Moraitou, Saich, Ntarzanou, Papatheodorou, Spyridonidou. Substitutes: Giannakouli, Kotsaki, Gkouni, Kapnisi, Georgiou, Kakabouki, Koskeridou, Petaloti, Gkatsou, Chamalidou, Koggouli.
Scorers: Sarri 72’
Referee: Franziska Wildfeuer (GER)
Attendance: 5,879.
Follow Impetus on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball TikTok: @impetusfootball
Instagram: @impetusfootball
impetusfootball.org 