No joy for Donegal girls as Ireland's World Cup dream ends with Norway defeat

There was no joy for Tyler Toland and Amber Barrett and the Ireland Women's team as their FIFA 2019 World Cup hopes ended with a narrow 1-0 defeat against Norway.
Caroline Graham Hansen converted a 21st minute penalty to secure three points for the home side despite a valiant effort by an Ireland squad which has been hit hard by injuries.
Toland started for the Irish while Barrett was a late replacement at centre forward.
Leanne Kiernan fired a shot narrowly wide on the half-hour before Ireland had a strong claim for a penalty turned down as Megan Connolly went down in the area five minutes later.
Republic of Ireland WNT Head Coach Colin Bell said: "I'm very proud of the players. We've created a number of openings and we should have got something out of the game.
"It's really tough on the players as they've given their all for the entire 90 minutes and if we can take one of the many chances we created, we'd be coming away with a brilliant result.
"I can't fault the effort of the players and the progress this young team has made. We've got a number of players sidelined by injury and other players have had to stand up. We may be out of the World Cup but the signs of progress give me real hope for the future."

NORWAY: Hjelmseth, Moe Wold, Mjelde, Thorisdottir, Haavi, Hansen, Maanum (Boe Rise 64), Engen, Reiten, Utland (Thorsnes 61), Herlovsen (Skinnes Hansen 90).
IRELAND: Hourihan, Perry-Campbell, O’Riordan, Quinn, O’Gorman (Atkinson 89), Duggan, Toland, O'Sullivan, Connolly (Barrett 83), McCabe, Kiernan (Jarrett 83).