Eoin Harrington reporting from SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork
As we finally closed up the laptops and headed for the Blackrock Road late on Tuesday evening, we agreed on one thing – that ‘Spark’ song was firmly stuck in our heads.
The crowd in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh was a raucous one, and the Kabin Crew’s viral hit blared around the stadium’s tannoy both ahead of kick-off and after the elation of the full-time whistle.
As the young fans in the crowd belted out the words to an instant modern Irish classic, one could not help but be struck by the thought that we should do this whole thing of coming down to Cork a bit more often than every 12 years.
That was certainly a recurring theme of our post-match chats with the Irish team. Hometown hero Denise O’Sullivan outright called for the FAI to bring the national team back. Head coach Eileen Gleeson said that the squad had felt the impact of the vociferous home support Leeside.
I’ll tell you what, we’ve had the best time in Cork. [We’ll be back] for sure. We’ve had it since the first moment we arrived in reception. The hotel, the stadium, everyone across the city.
When we drove in here tonight it was a really proud moment for us. People were chasing the bus, clapping, the kids…it was fantastic.
We really felt that support, we heard everybody here tonight. It really did make a difference so why not [come back]?
Based on the evidence of Tuesday night’s epic victory over France, there are far worse ideas than returning to the rebel county down the line.
16 July 2024; Megan Connolly, left, and Denise O’Sullivan of Republic of Ireland celebrate after the 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and France at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
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Cork return on the cards for Eileen Gleeson’s Irish side
Goalscorer Julie-Ann Russell was similarly blown away by the reception the Cork fans gave the Irish team on Tuesday.
Oh my God they were absolutely unbelievable. I think we need to have more games in Cork after that.
What a crowd, for a Tuesday evening, I heard 18,000 or something. It’s a credit to Cork. They produce so many amazing footballers, let’s just keep this momentum going.
My dad is actually from Cork so it was great to have extra family in the stands today. I spotted him in the crowd and he was beaming with joy.
There was something special about the occasion on Tuesday. The Páirc was less than half full – but it felt as though far more than the 18,399 reported were there based on volume alone.
The pre-match roars when home heroes Denise O’Sullivan and Megan Connolly were announced on the teamsheet rivalled the screams we have become accustomed to with every Katie McCabe touch in the Aviva.
16 July 2024; A general view of the action during the 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and France at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
It presented a compelling argument to bring the national team out of Dublin more regularly.
Before Tuesday, the most recent Irish women’s game outside of the capital was the EURO 2013 qualifier doubleheader against Wales and Scotland in June 2012. The last men’s international beyond the pale was the EURO 2016 warmup against Belarus.
The support was vocal and impassioned, even after the love affair with O’Sullivan and Connolly was taken out of the equation. The din that met O’Sullivan’s goal could have caused tidal action in Cork Harbour, but the reactions to Russell and Anna Patten’s strikes were not far off.
We have witnessed a boom in the popularity of women’s football in this country in recent years. After the success of last night’s wonderful venture Leeside, it would seem a waste not to bring the team further afield and give young football fans up and down the country the chance to see their heroes up close.
I was lucky enough to enjoy a cup of tea with Megan Connolly’s dad Michael on Monday. He stressed how wonderful it had been to bring his daughter to the previous visit of France to Cork in 2011 in Turners Cross and how much it had meant to a young Connolly. It is hard to overstate how much Tuesday’s win will have meant to the young footballers of Cork.
16 July 2024; Anna Patten of Republic of Ireland, sixth from left, scores her side’s third goal during the 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and France at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Aside from the Corkonian propaganda here, the performance on the pitch from Ireland marked a stunning step forward and a well-deserved reward for their efforts in a miserably tough qualifying group.
The team could scarcely have believed it when the draw threw up three of the semi-finalists from the last European Championship. The first five games of the group will have left the team battered and bruised so to end on a high such as this is wonderful.
It is easy to get carried away on occasions such as these. And it is easy to look for reasons to pick apart the reasons why Ireland were allowed to take such a comfortable victory, such as the shortcomings of Hervé Renard’s French side.
But, on the balance of things, this was a fair reflection of the trajectory of Ireland throughout this campaign. It’s always hard to use the word “unlucky” when it comes to the cutthroat nature of top-level sport.
Perhaps the word “unfortunate” is slightly more apt for how close Ireland came to getting something out of their previous two games.
If the defeats against Sweden and England left a sense that Ireland’s shortcomings were preventing them from leaping to the level of their opponents, the extraordinary front-footed energy in Cork showed that the team and Gleeson have clearly learned from their mistakes in previous games.
Julie-Ann Russell has been a revelation since returning to the squad, baby in tow. The significance of Denise O’Sullivan’s return was enormous. Aoife Mannion and Jess Ziu have been quietly excellent over the past few months. Slowly but surely, a new team is forming.
There may have been a fear after the start of this campaign that last year’s World Cup might end up being the high point for this Ireland team. Tuesday’s victory, the biggest in terms of the stature of opposition in Irish women’s football history, has rekindled belief that the best days are ahead.
When I look back on this campaign and the journeys to Metz, Stockholm, and Cork, as well as the nights in the Aviva Stadium, I see a team which has clearly grown. The Irish performance on Tuesday night would not have been believable if you pitched it immediately after they were played off the pitch in France in April.
But they have gotten better with every game, not losing sight of the ultimate end goal – EURO 2025.
Yes, one win from six looks rough on paper but the performances have improved over the course of the campaign, the squad have clearly learnt from their experience, and they will be stronger now when they stare down the EURO 2025 playoffs in October (they will learn their opponents on Friday).
As an entirely new home crowd roared their approval for the Girls in Green and the sun began to set over the Lee, one could not help but think that might actually be the beginning of a special new mini-era for the Ireland WNT.
And, as we left the ground to head back towards the city centre late in the evening, the words of the Kabin Crew’s ‘The Spark’ spun around my head.
“Think you can stop what we do? I doubt it! I searched for my spark and I found it.”
After a few grim months of coming up short against the best teams in the world, Ireland might just have found their spark once more in Cork on Tuesday night.
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