France 1-0 Republic of Ireland
By Alyce Collett 10/6/26
Above: Melvine Malard (left) and Megan Connolly (right) battle it out as France beat the Republic of Ireland. Photo: via UEFA.
France have qualified for the 2027 Women’s World Cup after defeating the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in Grenoble tonight to top their qualification group.
The home side dominated much of the match, despite Melvine Malard’s spectacular first half goal being the only thing separating the teams on the scoreboard. As much as France were worthy winners the Irish were their own worst enemy at times, with poor passing and heavy touches on the ball really letting them down.
The Irish defence was certainly put to the test from very early on, forced to face plenty of waves of French attacking play. Delphine Cascarino, Sakina Karchaoui and Malard were all busy early, giving plenty for the Irish defence to think about.
The Republic of Ireland did have some opportunities in its attacking half in the opening part of the match, but they were few and far between.
Despite all of this, a really composed performance from the Irish defence repelled everything that came their way, and as half time approached it was starting to feel like one of those games where one small mistake was going to be what would make the difference in the game.
Caitlin Hayes was particularly impressive for the Irish, continuing on from her stellar performance on Friday night.
Despite all the positives the Republic of Ireland had shown, France did finally get their reward with a couple of minutes to go before half time through Malard. With the Irish perhaps having switched off a bit during a short corner, Malard pounced and after an acrobatic shot managed to get the ball into the back of the net.
Malard’s goal was what ultimately separated the teams at half time, with the Irish left with plenty to think about at the break.
It was a more positive start to the second half from the visitors than what they had shown for so much of the first half, with the Irish getting to spend much more time on the ball than in the previous 45 minutes.
However, much like in the first 45 minutes the Irish struggled to pickpocket a solid French defence, with poor passing and unusually heavy touches also causing the Irish some problems.
Things took an interesting turn with about 20 minutes to go when Thinba Samoura received a second yellow card for the match after bringing down Emily Murphy, and France needed to contend with the last part of the match with a player down.
However in the end the Irish could not make their numerical advantage count and the French held on for the win.
Teams: REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (5-3-2): Brosnan, Mustaki, Hayes, Mannion, Connolly, O’Sullivan, McCabe, Patten, Sheva, Carusa, Murphy. Substitutes: Moloney, Whitehouse, Stapleton, Ziu, Littlejohn, Barrett, Nolan, Quinn, Finn, Larkin, Noonan, Toland.
FRANCE (4-3-3): Picaud-Inconnu, Sombath, Samoura, Lakrar, Bacha, Jean-Francois, Karchaoui, Geyoro, Cascarino, Baltimore, Malard. Substitutes: Chavas, Peyraud-Magnin, Bogaert, De Almaida, N’Dongala, Sangare, Le Moguedec, Mendy, Becho, Gago, Katoto, Mateo.
Scorers: Malard 40’
Referee: Désirée Blanco [SUI]
Attendance: 7,559.
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