Courtney Brosnan owns her error as Ireland push world champions close

Patrick McCarry

USA 1-0 IRELAND

On the day she turned 26, Courtney Brosnan gave Alana Cook a birthday present she would dearly love to take back.

Ireland were doing well against world champions USA for the second friendly game in succession when Brosnan was caught out coming for a pump into the box that ended up having too much on it.

Back in 1995, Nayim famously caught Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman off his line with a speculative punt that won real Zaragoza the Cup Winners’ Cup. In St Louis, on Tuesday evening, Cook could not even claim to be going for goal. Her intention was to loft the ball in for the USA forwards to contest.

Brosnan, who plays club football for Everton, sought to grab the initiative and rushed from her line, only to back-pedal as she realised the ball had a bit more ‘go’ in it that she first judged. It was a poor bit of goalkeeping from an otherwise solid player.

HT USA 1-0 Republic of Ireland
Alana Cook's 43rd-minute goal is the difference in St Louis. Follow the second half here https://t.co/vBeeyLUd5N #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/LH4zPXav2K

— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) April 12, 2023

Courtney Brosnan on her goalkeeping error

The shame for Courtney Brosnan, and Ireland, was that the USA are such a good passing and possession team that gifting them the advantage was always going to hurt.

Ireland had a few half-chances after conceding that 42nd minute opener but they were chasing shadows for long periods as they tried to get back in the game. The hosts had the better openings in the second half and Brosnan was needed on a couple of occasions, rushing up to shut down some dangerous attacks.

Following the game, the 27 who was born in New Jersey, spoke with RTÉ about her error, and they way Ireland pushed the world champs hard over two games in four days.

“I’m really disappointed in myself, I want to do my best for the team but it was just unlucky,” she said. “It doesn’t take away from the performance from the girls so we can walk away with that and get ready for the summer.

“I like claiming crosses, I like relieving the pressure from the backline so making one mistake won’t stop me from doing that, trying to help the team.”

Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe talks to her teammates and staff after the friendly loss to USA at CITYPARK in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)

‘We can be really proud of the performance’

Ireland lost 2-0 and 1-0 to USA over the two friendly matches but proved to be a significant thorn in the side of the 2019 World Cup winners. If anything, Ireland looked even better in the 2-0 defeat than last night’s game but Courtney Brosnan was buoyed by both outings.

“We can be really proud of the performance we put in against the best team in the world,” she told RTÉ.

“You can see how we’ve grown from the first game to the second game even so it just shows we’re making steps in the right direction. It’s not the result we wanted but it’s great to see the performance and hard work from the team.”