England take another step towards EURO qualification with victory over Republic of Ireland | OneFootball

England have taken another step towards automatic qualification for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 with a 2-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland at Carrow Road in Norwich this evening.

Alessia Russo’s early effort gave England the lead before the Lionesses netted a second goal after half-time through a Georgia Stanway penalty. Julie Russell pulled a goal back for the Republic of Ireland deep in second half stoppage time but it was too little, too late for The Girls in Green.

England got off to the perfect start when they broke the deadlock with their very first attack. Beth Mead played a tidy pass to Russo and she rounded Courtney Brosnan and fired the ball into an unguarded net.

The Lionesses should have been two goals to the good 10 minutes later but both Lauren Hemp and Jess Carter failed to beat Brosnan in quick succession.

Mead was the next to test Brosnan but she couldn’t fire her effort either side of the Republic of Ireland keeper before Hemp spurned a good opportunity just before half-time.

England finally doubled their lead 12 minutes into the second half. The Republic of Ireland got themselves into a real mix-up at the back and Niamh Fahey tripped Hemp in the box. Stanway stepped up to take the resulting penalty and she successfully converted from 12 yards.

The final half-hour was disjointed with both sides struggling to carve out quality goalscoring opportunities. England substitute Jess Naz went close when she blocked a Brosnan clearance but the ball bounced harmlessly wide across goal. Chloe Kelly and Stanway then fired off target before Russell netted at the death for the visitors as the game ended 2-1.

England will qualify automatically for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 with a positive result against Sweden in Gothenburg on Tuesday.