Northern Ireland 0, England 5 (Women’s European Championships Group A)
England set new records on their way to qualifying for the quarter finals of the Women’s European Championships by hammering Northern Ireland
Embed from Getty ImagesIn doing so, they set a new record of goals scored in a Euros group stage with 14 (beating the previous record of 11 set by Germany in 2001).
Goals by Fran Kirby and Beth Mead set England on their way before a double by Manchester United striker Alessia Russo made sure of victory and a own goal by Kelsey Burrows underlined England’s dominance of the Euros having not conceded a single goal so far.
England were unchanged again despite talk before the game that Sarina Wiegman, who missed the game due to COVID, had opted to retain an unchanged side for the third game in a row against Northern Ireland.
In Wiegman’s absence, England were led by her assistant Arjan Veurink and his side were initially given a tougher test against Northern Ireland than they got against Norway.
The already-eliminated Irish started strongly but England flexed their muscles in an action packed start.
A penalty was given for a handball by Laura Rafferty off a shot by Georgia Stanway after just 8 minutes but was overruled by VAR who had spotted that Beth Mead had herself handled the ball in the build-up.
Ellen White rolled a shot wide of the left upright while Bronze headed a Beth Mead cross wide as England looked to get into the lead despite some resolute defending from Northern Ireland.
Stanway was set up by a Fran Kirby cross but her goal bound shot was cleared off the line by Rebecca Holloway while Millie Bright also saw a header go wide.
But the deadlock was finally broken after 40 minutes by Fran Kirby whose long range side footed drive curled past Jackie Burns after Lauren Hemp’s blocked shot fell to her.
And four minutes later Beth Mead’s deflected shot off Rachel Furness from 15 yards doubled that lead to the delight of England fans in St Mary’s just before half time after they laid siege to the Northern Ireland goal.
Mead’s goal equalled Germany’s record of 11 goals in the Euros group stages and with time enough to break it England looked in the mood for more.
Alessia Russo, Ella Toone and Alex Greenwood were brought on at the break as England decided to rotate their squad with a triple change – Millie Bright, Ellen White, and Georgia Stanway were the players to make way.
And just over 2 minutes after the restart Russo made the game safe with England’s third goal of the night, heading home from a right wing cross by Mead from 11 yards out for her 6th goal in 10 caps for England.
Russo scored her second of the night in the 53rd minute after breaking turning with the ball following a deft touch of Ella Toone’s through ball beyond the Irish defence before drilling it past Burns.
Chloe Kelly replaced her Manchester City team mate Lauren Hemp on the hour mark with Keira Walsh blazing over as England dominated the final quarter against their flagging opponents.
Jess Carter made her tournament debut, replacing Lucy Bronze for the final 16 minutes.
And England were 5-0 up 2 minutes later when Kelsie Burrows sliced Mead’s cross past Burns for a dispiriting own goal for Northern Ireland.
Russo had a chance to get a hat trick but blazed over with the ball laid on a plate for him – England were wasteful in the final quarter of the game and the Irish escaped without further breaches.
England will now await the identity of their quarter final opponents in tomorrow’s game between Spain and Denmark.
MATCH STATS – Northern Ireland 0, England 5 (Women’s European Championships Group A)
Northern Ireland Women: Burns, McKenna, Nelson (Hutton 87), Robson, Vance, Holloway (Magee 66), Wade, Rafferty (Burrows 66), Callaghan (Wilson 87), K McGuinness, Furness (Caldwell 80)
Northern Ireland Women Subs not used: Flaherty, Turner, McCarron, McDaniel, Andrews, C McGuiness
England Women: Earps, Bronze (Carter 74), Bright (Greenwood 46), Williamson, Daly, Stanway (Toone 46), Walsh, Mead, Kirby, Hemp (Kelly 60), White (Russo 46)
England Women subs not used: Hampton, Roebuck, Scott, Parris, England, Wubben-Moy
Goals: Kirby 40; Mead 44; Russo 48, 53; Burrows 76 og
Referee: Esther Staubli
Attendance 30,785