England continued their perfect start to Euro 2022 as they concluded their group stage campaign with a 5-0 win Northern Ireland.
The Lionesses didn’t quite enjoy themselves at St Mary’s as Northern Ireland put on a determined display but England found their ruthless lead when the breakthrough finally came.
Fran Kirby and Beth Mead the tournament host put in two goals at halftime, and Alessio Russo came off the bench to make a rapid fire early in the second half. An own goal by Kelsie Burrows cruelly gave English a fifth place.
Despite England only scoring once in their opening game against Austria, the number of goals England have scored in the group stage of 13 is the highest number of any team in the tournament’s history. They also have to concede a goal.
Attention now turns to Wednesday’s quarter-final, when England will face either Spain or Denmark in a last-eight clash.
Sarina Wiegman was absent from the sidelines after testing positive for Covid but as promised it was a strong lineup of Lionesses as they remained unchanged after the dominant win over Norway.
However, England initially found this a more difficult task, Northern Ireland did well to seal off the space. The referee awarded the Lionesses a penalty after Laura Rafferty allegedly blocked a shot with her arm, but that decision was reversed after a lengthy VAR review.
Ellen White and then Lucy Bronze missed big chances to break the deadlock before Georgia Stanway cleared an attempt off the line.
In the end, the goals did come, just before half-time. Kirby curled a brilliant first attempt from the edge of the box into the top corner after a shot from Lauren Hemp was blocked.
Fran Kirby and Beth Mead have rallied England at St Mary’s
/ REUTERSOne quickly turned into two as Mead showed real composure and doubled the lead four minutes later with the help of a slight deflection to deliver her fifth goal of the tournament.
Russo was introduced at the break and quickly presented a convincing case for more minutes. She went home from Mead’s cross just two minutes into the second half, before getting her second and England’s fourth shortly afterwards. Ella Toone busted a pass in her path, Russo made a stunning turn to create space and then found a controlled finish.
Toone had a number of tries from distance as she tried to make the most of another cameo from the bench before the fifth goal fell in fortuitous circumstances. Hungry as ever to make an impact, Mead cut inside and shot a ball into the box that flew off Burrows’ outstretched leg and flew over the helpless Jacqueline Burns.
Russo missed two huge chances within a minute to seal the match ball late, but that did little to dampen the spirits of the England fans who watched as their side marched in ominous form to the quarter-finals.