Ireland suffer heartbreaking defeat in opening fixture of Women's World Cup

IT WAS Heartbreak for the Republic of Ireland as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to co-hosts Australia in their opening game of the FIFA Women's World Cup. 

Numerous efforts to score in the closing minutes of the game came up short and Ireland will feel gutted after the loss after putting in a valiant effort throughout the match. 

Huge team news came just before kick-off as Australia's superstar Sam Kerr was ruled out of the fixture after picking up a calf injury during training. The 20 year-old attacker will miss the Matilda's first two games in the group stage of the World Cup. 

Ireland did well to soak up the majority of pressure from Australia in the opening minutes of the game, where the co-host nation enjoyed the majority of possession. 

The Irish team defended extremely well with nearly the whole squad behind the ball limiting Australia to half chances at goal but struggled to counter attack due to the lack of numbers up-front. 

Australia kept the pressure on throughout the half and had four goal chances before Ireland had their own period of attacking threat in the 29th minute through McCabe and Sheva. 

Frustration on both sides through late tackles saw Ireland giving away a number of frees before Denise O’Sullivan saw a yellow card after 41 minutes. 

Despite the attacking threats of Aussie’s Courtney Brosnan the game remained 0-0 at the break. 

This score quickly changed with Australia being awarded a penalty after only five minutes being played in the second-half.

Raso was brought down by Sheva in the box and Steph Catley made no mistake with the strike putting her side ahead. 

Ireland struggled to get back into the game after this score making a number of changes in an attempt to freshen the legs. 

In the closing minutes of the game, the Irish women had multiple chances to score with three consecutive corners, but to no avail.

The first game in Group B ended on a scoreline of 1-0 in Australia's favour.  

Australia: Mackenzie Arnold; Cortnee Vine, Steph Catley (C), Caitlin Foord, Mary Fowler, Alanna Kennedy, Clare Hunt, Hayley Raso, Katrina Gorry, Ellie Carpenter, Kyra Cross. 

Subs: Van Egmond for Vine (74 minutes), Polkinghorne for Fowler (84 mins). 

Ireland: Courtney Brosnan, Louise Quinn, Niamh Fahey, Megan Connolly, Ruesha Littlejohn, Denise O’Sullivan, Katie McCabe (C), Heather Payne, Sinead Farrelly, Kyra Carusa, Marissa Sheva.

Subs: Larken for Farrelly (62 minutes), Quinn for Sheva (62 minutes), Atkinson for Carusa (87 minutes).