The margins were tight but, ultimately, Australia just about came out on top in their clash with Ireland on the opening day of the FIFA Women's World Cup.
In front of a home crowd (a sizeable proportion of which were wearing green), the pressure was on the Aussies, ranked seventh in the world and fancied by many to challenge for the trophy come the final next month.
A penalty from captain Steph Catley early in the second-half was the difference on Thursday, despite a spirited performance from Ireland - in particular from their skipper Katie McCabe.
Catley buries the penalty after a clumsy tackle by Sheva
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It was anything but routine for Australia, but that may have had something to do with the late withdrawal of Sam Kerr from the matchday squad. Kerr, one of the stars of Chelsea's run to a domestic double last year, will also miss Australia's second game against Nigeria, necessitating a massive change to their style of play with their influential forward out.
Speaking at full-time, ITV pundits Emma Byrne and Karen Carney noted how it had taken Australia much of the game to figure out how to break down the Irish defence in Kerr's absence, but went on to show the crucial role played by her replacement Mary Fowler in ultimately cracking the Irish rearguard.
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ITV pundits were surprised with Australian attack in World Cup opener
With the news of an injury to Sam Kerr - expected to be one of the stars of this tournament - arriving just over an hour before kick-off, optimism increased in Irish circles that the World Cup debutants would be able to snatch a result from their fiercely tough opening game.
That only grew at half-time, after Ireland successfully frustrated the Australian attack in the opening 45 minutes.
It did not take long in the second-half for Australia to crack the Irish defence, however, and Karen Carney noted the crucial role of Mary Fowler in exploiting the pockets of space left by Ireland's deep positioning:
In the first-half, Australia were going too long all the time, trying to hit the ball over the top, and there was no space. Fowler then was really key, because she came into different areas...the pockets of space, trying to find that.
She's a link up player - in the first-half, Australia didn't have any attacking threat - credit to Ireland. In the second half, she was bringing people in, getting Australia higher up...driving at the defence, trying to make something happen, getting a shot in.
She was key, really key, really instrumental. She was a real catalyst, because she started to play through more in the second-half - she was also key in winning the penalty
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Joining Carney on the ITV panel was Emma Byrne, the most-capped player in Irish international history, who agreed that Fowler had been crucial in the game swinging in Australia's favour.
Despite this, Byrne said she was surprised that it had taken Australia as long as it did to break Ireland down, and said she felt Vera Pauw's Irish side had been unlucky not to take more out of the game:
They've lost their last three opening games in the World Cup. They just wanted to get it out of the way...three points is a good result for them, to be quite honest. They didn't really show much, for me. They didn't have a plan B, and they didn't really create anything. To come away with three points is wonderful for them.
The way she [Fowler] was playing in the first-half, it was crying out for her to drop in to that number ten position. Ireland were so good at dropping off when there was no pressure on the ball that all the space was in front of them. I'm surprised it took Australia that long to find that space, to be honest. [Fowler] was obviously told to start a little bit deeper in the second-half.
Ireland's next game sees them face Canada next Wednesday at 1pm in Perth, while Australia have a week's break before facing Nigeria in Brisbane on Thursday.
SEE ALSO: Vera Pauw Proud Of Ireland "Storm" Despite Defeat To Australia
