THERE was a crossbar struck and some VAR bad luck – but Ireland will watch next year’s European Championships from home.
Hannah Cain’s penalty and a Carrie Jones effort earned Wales a 2-1 win in front of 25,832 fans at the Aviva Stadium to ensure they go to their first ever finals with a 3-1 aggregate win.
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And it left the Girls in Green slumped to their knees at full-time as they failed to follow up on qualification for last year’s World Cup by also securing a spot in Switzerland next year.
The bones of the defeat will be picked over in the coming days by everyone involved and there were those what if moments.
What if Denise O’Sullivan’s early effort that beat goalkeeper Olivia Clark went in rather than hitting the crossbar.
Or what if other first half chances were taken? Or if Anna Patten’s goal that brought Ireland back into the tie had come earlier.
Or what if the Caitlin Hayes, the Leanne Kiernan or Sullivan chances in the EIGHT minutes of injury time had gone in?
But Wales were the better side in the first leg in Cardiff and did not need luck to win in Dublin as they took their opportunities as they came.
The penalty was awarded after a lengthy VAR check after referee Marta Huerta De Aza had missed Patten lead into a Lily Woodham free kick with her arm.
And Jones’ second goal was a defensive mess as Wales goalkeeper Olivia Clark was able to beat the press to find Woodham before Hayes was caught napping for a ball in behind her.
The FAI will also review it all with Eileen Gleeson’s contract now up as her deal was only for the duration of Ireland’s Euros campaign.
League A qualification went to form with Ireland’s and Gleeson’s destiny always expected to be decided in a play-off final.
But how the play-off played out will hurt for a long time as Ireland had the better of the first half before it all unravelled quickly after the break.
The second half was still settling down when Wales won a penalty that, initially, everyone in the ground missed.
Woodham’s deep free kick from the left was nervously cleared by Ireland for a throw-in when the referee got a VAR word in her ear.
It took a while as the VAR screen initially would not work. But when it did, there was only one decision to make.
Patten had lunged at Woodham’s free kick to head clear but had her arm up in an unnatural position to help it onto Ruesha Littlejohn to clear.
The referee pointed to the spot and Ireland protested. But Cain kept her cool and sent Courtney Brosnan the wrong way from 12 yards to give Wales a precious lead.
Wales second arrived on 67 minutes when Woodham played the ball forward behind Hayes for Jones to race on and drill beyond Brosnan.
Patten did pull a goal back for Ireland six minutes from time when she headed home after her initial effort was cleared off the line to set up a grand finale.
And Ireland threw everything forward winning corner after corner while Megan Campbell bombarded the penalty area with long throws.
There were chances too. Hayes had a header from a corner cleared off the line and Kiernan had an effort blocked by Rhiannon Roberts when through on goal.
O’Sullivan too had a good shot cannon away for a corner but she must have wondered what might have been had her earlier chance gone in instead of hitting the crossbar.
The opening goal was always going to prove vital and it looked more likely to be an Ireland one in that first half with O’Sullivan going closest.
She turned and shot from distance on 22 minutes that she thought was going in as she back pedalled away. And there were other opportunities.
Julie-Ann Russell forced Clark to dive to tip away after she collected a pullback from Kyra Carusa, sent Hayley Ladd the wrong way with a dummy and then got a shot in.
Heather Payne was there for the rebound but was crowded out and could not get her shot on target while Katie McCabe too had an effort from distance just off target.
Niamh Fahey also had a left-foot shot that flew narrowly wide while Carusa had a penalty shout when she went down under some very ‘handsy’ contact from Gemma Evans.
But Wales were a threat with their own limited possession too and also thought they should be facing ten players with McCabe fortunate to stay on the pitch.
She picked up a yellow on 17 minutes for a rash challenge on Josephine Green after the Wales midfielder had got away with tugging her by the arm and winning the ball off her.
But she was blessed just before half-time to avoid a second booking when she brought down Rachel Rowe near the touchline after losing possession to her.
The referee took a lenient view as McCabe did pull out of the challenge at the last second even as she made contact.
But Ireland’s luck then disappeared early in the second half with the correct award of the penalty to Wales.
And they had no luck in injury time as they threw everyone forward looking to push the game to extra time.
This one will take a long time to get over.
Ireland 1 (Patten 86)
Wales 2 (Cain pen 50, Jones 67)
Wales win 3-2 on aggregate