Toland and Barrett feature in Ireland’s 2-1 loss to Italy

The Republic of Ireland women’s side lost to Italy in a friendly international on Tuesday evening at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia.
Ireland took an early lead through Katie McCabe but Colin Bell’s side were eventually beaten 2-1 by their hosts.
St Johnston’s Tyler Toland started for Ireland while Milford women Barrett was a second half sub coming on for Leanne Kiernan.
WNT Head Coach Colin Bell was disappointed that his team did not get a positive result from the game and feels his side need to be more clinical.
Bell said: “I’m really disappointed because after the performance, we should have got a result. There were phases where Italy were very strong, the first half particularly, maybe after the second half where they increased the pressure and moved the ball fast, but that’s expected.
“But we got off to a great start and then we had another counter-attack that we should have, and could have, finished to make it 2-0 – we had them. We had free-kicks and Megan’s (Campbell) throw that we didn’t utilise. They were decisive situations and we didn’t capitalise on the mistakes that Italy made, or when we had good play. And then we make a mistake for the first goal and then in the second half again we make a poor mistake, get drawn out of position in the box and (Daniela) Sabatino puts the ball in the net.”