Abbie Larkin pounces at death to send Ireland into top tier of Nations League
A fresh-faced 20-year-old Abbie Larkin has fired Ireland into the top tier of nations for next year’s World Cup qualifiers.
Belgium took 39 minutes to cancel out Ireland’s two-goal advantage through Tessa Wullaert’s brace on home soil but substitute Larkin pounced in the final minutes to hook the ball home from close range for her second goal in 30 internationals.
Victory crowned Katie McCabe’s 100th cap, putting them on the road to Brazil by being guaranteed a playoff route regardless of how the regular qualifiers go between February and June.
Carla Ward kept faith with Littlejohn despite her paucity of gametime at club level.
The significance of that result could only be measured in the context of the overall tie.
For the opening half hour, Ireland shaded proceedings, creating the better of the few chances produced.
Blending the right to be patient with exploiting Belgium’s defensive deficiencies was a dilemma Ireland succeeded in balancing during that opening period.
Teulings deservedly went into the book of Stephanie Frappart midway through the first half.
Grace Moloney in the Ireland goal hadn’t been troubled before a succession of passing ended with her being beaten on 33 minutes.
Once Teulings spotted Wullaert unmarked at the far post, her cross enabled the veteran to slide her first-time shot back across goal into the bottom corner.
Similar to Friday, the breakthrough was the cue for a crowd of 7,038 to find their voice.
Instead of the Belgians committing runners in pursuit of a winner, Ireland carried the stronger threat in the final third.
Larkin's first sight of goal on 66 minutes was a clear one, only for her to skew her shot off target with just the goalkeeper to beat.
She wouldn’t miss the next chance, finishing after O'Sullivan's flicked header caused chaos in the Belgian box.
