France 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Pain in Grenoble but hope for Irish as play-offs

Three wins and three defeats might not look too good to finish third in their qualifying group, but the Republic of Ireland have plenty to be proud of in how they navigated what many called the ‘Group of Death’ in League A.

The bottom seeds, who won promotion to Ligue A last year with a last-gasp goal against Belgium in the promotion/relegation play-off, were tipped to drop straight back to Ligue B after draws against France, the Netherlands and Poland.

Manager Carla Ward has always said they want to aim as high as possible, and despite failing to scale their Everest, narrowly losing their final qualifier to France to miss out on automatic World Cup qualification, they still have a chance of reaching next year’s tournament in Brazil.

They became the first team to be promoted to League A without being relegated straight away and picked up not just two but three wins in the top flight, including a sensational victory over the Netherlands in Cork on Friday.

Their third-place finish ensured a qualifying play-off in the autumn and they will be the team to avoid when the draw is made on June 18, having beaten Poland and the Netherlands twice and coming so close to France.

Speaking to RTE Ward’s overriding feelings were pride that they didn’t cross the line, although he was philosophical about how far they’ve come and how far they can go.

“I’m incredibly proud of this team and I told them that there. We’ve got a special, special team who work incredibly hard. It shows you everything, the (French) end scene, it wasn’t easy for them tonight,” he said.

“France are a top, top team and we’re disappointed here which tells you an awful lot about where we are.

“You can take a lot of positives. This campaign we’ve grown and gotten better. Whether we win, draw or lose tonight we want to keep going. We’re in a really good place in October and that’s the focus.”