Australia win World Cup opener against Ireland despite absence of star player Sam Kerr | OneFootball

Steph Catley’s penalty ensured co-hosts Australia opened their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland.

Catley’s second-half penalty was enough to clinch three points for the Matildas in front of a record crowd of 75,784 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

Vera Pauw’s side, making their debut at a major tournament, made life difficult throughout for a side ranked 10th by FIFA, 12 places above Ireland.

But despite a late flurry, they were unable to get themselves back on level terms and will now turn their attention to next Wednesday’s clash with Canada in Perth.

For Australia, there was relief after three hard-earned points were banked to match the feat of co-hosts New Zealand, who had earlier stunned Group A rivals Norway with a 1-0 victory in Auckland, ahead of their second fixture against Nigeria next Thursday.

In a tight first half, Pauw’s well-organised defence limited the Matildas to threatening from set-pieces and a Katrina Gorry attempt from distance.

However, the breakthrough arrived seven minutes into the second half when midfielder Hayley Raso, who enjoyed a full-blooded battle with Ireland skipper Katie McCabe, was bundled over by Marissa Sheva in the penalty area and referee Edina Alves pointed to the spot.

Arsenal defender Catley drilled the resulting spot-kick into the top corner to ease the tension inside the stadium.

To their credit, the Republic, who edged past Scotland in a play-off to book their ticket to the finals, refused to throw in the towel and immediately set about the task of trying to drag themselves back into the contest.

Indeed, Australia coach Tony Gustavsson sent on veteran Clare Polkinghorne to shore up his defence as Megan Connolly sent a late free-kick on to the roof of Mackenzie Arnold’s net and McCabe scuffed an attempt towards goal.

But with play-off heroine Amber Barrett sitting on the bench, Ireland were unable to find a way past Arnold and ended their big day with plaudits, but no points.

The Aussies had to do it the hard way after their Sam Kerr was ruled out of the first two Group B games with a calf injury suffered in training.

The Chelsea striker is Australia’s all-time goalscorer of either gender with 63 goals across 121 caps, but she was forced to watch Thursday’s opener against Ireland from the bench after sustaining the injury during a training session on Wednesday.

Australia next face Nigeria on July 27 and will hope Kerr is fit enough to start their final group stage match on July 31 against Olympic champions Canada, the highest FIFA-ranked Group B nation.

A Matildas tweet read: “Sam Kerr is unavailable tonight after she picked up a calf injury at training on MD-1.

“Sam will be unavailable for the next two matches, with the Matildas medical team to reassess her following our second group-stage match.”

Football Writers’ Association women’s footballer of the year Kerr, 29, took to Instagram to express her disappointment in a post that read: “Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training.

“I wanted to share this with everyone so there is no distraction from us doing what we came here to achieve.

“Of course I would have loved to have been out there tonight but I can’t wait to be a part of this amazing journey which starts now.”