December 3, 2024: The Girls in Green ahead of Ireland v Wales at Dublin's Aviva Stadium.@IrelandFootball, X

Ireland’s Euro 2025 dream is over after Wales sealed a 2-1 play-off second-leg win in front of 25,832 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Tuesday night, December 3.

With the aggregate score level at one apiece after last Friday’s first leg in Cardiff, neither side ventured boldly in the opening exchanges, with route one and second balls the order of the opening 10 minutes.

Eileen Gleeson’s side did settle into a more sustained period of possession beyond that, but it was Wales who had the first sight of goal, with Jess Fishlock’s strike from range in the 15th minute gathered well by Courtney Brosnan.

Ireland had a chance of their own in the 21st minute, with Katie McCabe’s pinpoint delivery picking out Anna Patten at the back post, but the Aston Villa defender couldn’t get over the ball and headed high and wide.

In the next attack, Ireland came close to an opener. Kyra Carusa turned infield down the left to find Denise O’Sullivan just outside the box. O’Sullivan’s soft first touch set up the strike ideally and her curled right-footed effort was agonisingly close, striking the woodwork after beating Olivia Clark all ends up.

The rebound went out for a corner, from which a short routine allowed McCabe space from where O’Sullivan had attempted. The skipper jutted back onto her left foot and struck a powerful effort, but it flashed just beyond the far post and wide.

Wales did a good job of robbing Ireland in their own half, typified by a strong tackle on Ruesha Littlejohn after McCabe’s pass infield in the 32nd minute. It allowed the visitors a three on three and the result was a free kick on the edge of the box. Lily Woodham stepped up to strike left-footed, but Brosnan was down well to her left to bat it behind.

The Ireland stopper produced an even better save moments later, with the clearance from the corner sent back into the area. Rhiannon Roberts found space to direct a snapshot goalwards, but Brosnan was down sharply to stop.

Having been booked early on, McCabe was lucky to avoid a second yellow in the 38th minute after she lost possession high up and lunged in on Rachel Rowe in front of the patch of Welsh support, who were inevitably baying for her dismissal. Referee Marta Huerta waved her off with a final warning in what was a lucky escape for Ireland.

Niamh Fahey came hurtling onto a clearance and smacked a first time effort goalwards off her weaker left boot, and it wasn’t far away as it blazed past the near post, but that was it for the first half and the deadlock remained heading into the break.

All changed utterly just two minutes into the second half, as a Welsh free kick into the box prompted the referee to head to the touchline VAR screen to examine a potential handball on Patten. After a slight delay, she pointed to the spot.

Up stepped Hannah Cain, and she coolly slotted her spot kick into the bottom right corner, with Brosnan guessing the wrong way.

Ireland immediately looked to respond and left themselves exposed on the break, with Rowe bursting away at pace and swinging a teasing cross in which Cain just couldn’t reach on the stretch.

An Ireland set-piece brought another moment of contention as the ball in looked to have struck Fishlock’s hand, but curiously there was no VAR review this time around. Brosnan stood up strong at the end of another Wales counter moments later, with Cain laying it on a plate for Angharad James, whose right-footed effort was well stopped by Brosnan to keep Ireland in the fight.

Wales found what looked to be the killer blow in the 68th minute, with a tidy ball in behind to Carrie Jones exposing a threadbare rearguard. Only on the pitch seven minutes, the fleet-footed Jones got away from Caitlyn Hayes before dispatching a right-footed effort beyond Brosnan and into the bottom left corner for a two-goal lead.

Eileen Gleeson threw Leanne Kiernan, Megan Connolly and Megan Campbell into the fray in the 72nd minute as a last throw of the dice, with Ireland needing something special approaching the last 15 minutes.

A chink of hope came in the 85th minute, with a brilliant delivery from a McCabe corner finding the head of Patten. Her first effort was well stopped on the line, but there was no denying the defender at the second attempt as she readjusted and headed in the rebound to set up a frantic finish.

Corners – and substitute Campbell’s trademark long throw-ins – were continuing to cause the Welsh problems late on, with Clark struggling to deal with one delivery which Wales cleared off the line. A momentary pause to the chaos came as the referee put her hand up to her ear, but a VAR check confirmed the ball hadn’t crossed the whitewash.

There were further chances for Ireland deep into added time; first, Kiernan was sent through from a flick on from O’Sullivan but denied by an heroic block from Roberts. From the resulting corner, O’Sullivan herself had a chance inside the box, but again it was Roberts who blocked the effort over the bar.

Those late, last-ditch efforts from Roberts proved decisive, as eight minutes of added time elapsed and Wales hung on for a 2-1 win on the night to confirm a 3-2 aggregate success to punch their tickets to Euro 2025.

*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.