The measure of the challenge facing Noel King and his technical support staff, was painfully illustrated in Moscow on Saturday afternoon when the Irish Senior Women’s team were defeated 5-1 by Russia in their opening Group Qualifying game for the FIFA World Cup Finals to be played in China in the summer of 2007.

Ireland has only recently joined the higher echelons of Women’s football enabling the country to participate in the qualifying process for the World Cup Finals. Ireland is currently ranked 34th in the FIFA World Rankings and was in the fifth pool of teams for the qualifying group draw. Ireland was drawn in Group 4 with defending champions and recent European Champions, Germany who are of course ranked number 1 in the FIFA list. The three other countries forming the group are 13th ranked Russia together with Switzerland and Scotland who are ranked 27th and 29th respectively.

The game against Russia in Moscow was always going to be a major challenge and that situation was compounded for manager King, when Arsenal goalkeeper, Emma Byrne and midfielder Claire Scanlon of Bristol Rovers both failed fitness tests on ankle injuries prior to the game.

The match was effectively over in the first half as the Russian women were totally dominant and scored four goals against a somewhat shell shocked Ireland. The resolve of the Irish women in the second half was admirable and they refused to surrender meekly. The team kept battling throughout the half and received some measure of reward with a goal from Michelle O’Brien of Long Island Lady Riders.

The primary target of the senior women’s team will be to maintain their hard earned status in FIFA’s the top category and that will require that they do not finish in fifth place in the Group. The encounters with Scotland and Switzerland will prove seminal in this goal.

World Cup Group 4 Qualifying Fixtures:

25th September 2005 Scotland v Republic of Ireland
25th March 2006 Switzerland v Republic of Ireland
22nd April 2006 Republic of Ireland v Switzerland
6th May 2006 Republic of Ireland v Scotland
11th May 2006 Germany v Republic of Ireland
17th June 2006 Republic of Ireland v Russia
26th August 2006 Republic of Ireland v Germany