Carla Ward has praised her Ireland side despite defeat to France stating ‘if I’m a young girl looking at this group, I’m inspired.’
Ireland went a goal down five minutes before half time when a wonder strike from Melvine Malard found the net. The Girls in Green fought back in the second period and created several great chances to equalise but the goal just would not come.
The Ireland head coach spoke to the media following the narrow defeat and The Halfway Line was there to hear from her.
Carla Ward reflects ‘I’m so proud of the group’
Ireland fought hard against France and came close to an equaliser in the second half. Ward was asked to reflect on the defeat that sees Ireland enter the play offs for the FIFA Women’s World Cup,
“I’m incredibly proud of the group, I really am and so should everybody” Ward said. “They’ve been sensational in this campaign, they really have. Tonight we’ve come close again against one of the best teams in the world and my god did France turn up tonight, they were brilliant.
“They’re an outstanding team and the way they moved the ball, they’ve got world-class players everywhere. So I credit my players, I’m so proud of what we’re achieving, proud of the performance.
“Look, if anyone had said we’d be in this position I would have snapped your hand off, but we’re disappointed to have lost the game and that tells you an awful lot about how far we’ve come.”
Ward was asked about Ireland missing a number of chances in the second half,
“You have to take those against these sides” Ward lamented. “But I have just got nothing but love and pride for this group, they really are a special group that just give everything for that badge.
“And if I’m a young girl looking at this group, I’m inspired.”
Ward says Ireland are on ‘a journey’
When Carla Ward took over, Ireland had just lost in a play off tie to Wales and failed to qualify for UEFA EURO 2025. Ward was asked to reflect on the progress that Ireland have made since she took over,
“I reflect with real pride in the way that we’re progressing” Ward stated. “I just said to the players then, this isn’t the start, it’s not the end. It’s very much a journey, no matter if we had won the game tonight, whether we drew or like it has happened, we’ve been beaten.
“We’ll continue to work, we’ll continue to go in the direction we want to go in. So everyone will pick themselves back up ready for October and go down the other route, which if you’d given us that six months ago, we probably would have taken that.
“So, putting it into perspective, we’re in a really good position, a really good place with this group.”
Ireland will now head to the play offs with the draw for the competition on 18th June,
“I want to get back straight [to playing the next match] away!” said Ward” “But we’ll go to Zurich next week and see who we play, see what the route for the play-offs is and then we’ll assess that and we’ll get back to work.”
It took a ‘moment of magic’ to beat Ireland says Ward
In the opening 20 minutes France played some electric football, penning Ireland back in their own half. Ward was asked about the calibre of the opposition Ireland faced last night,
“Yeah, they were very good, weren’t they?” Ward said. “It’s tough, isn’t it? Because we know how good they are when they find rhythm.
“We were hoping that they wouldn’t find rhythm, but we did prepare for an onslaught as it was. And I think we managed that in the first 20 minutes, we really did, because we knew they would want to try and pull us out with all their rotations. We didn’t allow them to.
“It’s taken a moment of magic, hasn’t it? It’s taken an over-head kick from a wonderful individual, a wonderful talent. And that’s won them in the game. They haven’t cut open our back line too often.
“So at half-time, we wanted to tweak and be a little bit more aggressive. So, when we were, I thought we were more comfortable.”
Ward was asked if she had learnt from the defeat,
“Always, always” Ward explained. “We’ve come up short against one of the best in the world. They put teams out of sight and I’m sure when you speak to their manager, they’ll tell you, and you can see from the celebrations at the end, that wasn’t easy tonight, we made it difficult for them.
“And the fact that the entire French crowd clapped our players off the pitch, it tells another story. So it’s just nothing but pride.”
‘We’ve got a World Cup we want to get to’ says Carla Ward
After the loss, both Ward and captain Katie McCabe spoke to the team in a huddle. Ward was asked what was said in the huddle following defeat,
“Pretty much what I’ve just said to you, [I’m] immensely proud” Ward said. “We’re disappointed to be beat against one of the very best. And I said to them this morning, everybody questioned can you compete in League A?
“And now they’re saying, wow, you can really compete against everybody. And I just said to them at the end, to be disappointed to get beat in this position shows a hell of a lot of how far we’ve come. But I always say we’ve got work to do.
“Katie [McCabe] said a similar thing after and I think we’ll continue to work hard and continue to improve. That’s really important. We’ve got a World Cup that we want to get to.
“So we’ve got to keep working. And if we put in performances like we have in this campaign, we’re absolutely fine.”
