A diehard Ireland fan who quit her job to come to Australia for the Women’s World Cup was really hoping for a result over Canada on Wednesday night.
Meghan Carter, from Wexford, said as soon as Ireland qualified, she bought four tickets for every match, even though no one had committed to coming with her yet.
Carter wouldn’t let that get in her way. Nor her job as a financial analyst.
“I quit my job to come out here. I quit in April and my last day was July 10th. I flew here on July 16th,” Carter said.
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Looking around a packed pub, full of Irish fans singing the Fields of Athenry before the Canada game, Carter was confident she had made the right decision.
“I love soccer and I love the World Cup ... When Ireland made it, and it was their first World Cup, how can you say no?”
Her hopes of a win didn’t materialise, sadly. Despite Katie McCabe’s moment of magic, Ireland lost 2-1 to Canada, ending their World Cup journey.
Luckily, American-born Carter also supports the US, and will throw her full support behind the reigning champions before travelling around Australia and southeast Asia after the tournament.
A mix of Irish weather and a predominantly Irish crowd must have made the team feel right at home at the 20,000-capacity Perth Rectangular Stadium.
Some of the fans streaming out of the stadium in ponchos and rain jackets after the game weren’t really in the mood for talking. With bowed heads, most were trying to get home during a brief break in the rain.
Despite bitter disappointment that Ireland’s journey is over, fans were full of praise for McCabe, who scored the early goal.
“What a cracker, unbelievable, how can you score from the corner like that? It was unreal,” said Laura Flemming, originally from Tallaght, just around the corner from McCabe, and who now lives in Perth.
The team played a great game, Flemming thought, and deserved a better result. She was naturally disappointed but thought the team and the fans gave it their all.
“It was just electric, the atmosphere in there tonight was brilliant,” she said, despite being near a group of Canadian fans, who were sprinkled around the dominant Irish supporters.
Olivia Duffy, originally from Galway and a former Perth Rose, said it was a great game. “They played so well, but obviously it’s a terrible loss”.
“You could feel the atmosphere, and they definitely did their best,” Duffy said.
“It was very moving, you could hear the support. It was like being at home, which was wonderful, it was great for everyone here”.
Bernadette Chesnutt, originally from Co Derry but living in Perth for 55 years, said she was disappointed but said the team would survive and come back stronger.
Wearing her tricolour with her Australian-Irish granddaughter by her side, in a crowd of Irish, was something she’ll never forget.
“The atmosphere was magic, absolute magic, singing the Fields of Athenry, it was first class,” Chesnutt said.
The roars from the Irish after they got their World Cup moment from McCabe were deafening; the silence after the Canada goals equally so.
Getting a sense of the atmosphere at the fan zone were Abbie Larkin’s parents Ethyl and Robert, and her uncle Martin. They didn’t stay long before heading off to a prematch party at an Irish pub decked out in all of their Abbie merch that her uncle Martin, a long-term Sydney resident, had made himself.
The rain was making them feel like they were back in Dublin, Mrs Larkin said.
Talking about her World Cup debut against Australia, Ethyl said Abbie was “absolutely amazing, just amazing”.
“I didn’t even realise she was coming on because we were behind the dugout so when I actually seen her come on the pitch, I nearly fell out of my chair.”
“She said she had a few nerves waiting to go on but once she got on, she was grand. She just took the opportunity and that’s what you have to do.”
Mrs Larkin said Abbie can’t quite believe all the support for her.
“She’s in awe of it really. She’s still young, I don’t even think it’s hit her that she’s in the World Cup.”
Abbie has been taking it in her stride, says Mrs Larkin. “She’s just that kind of a kid that goes and does what she has to do. Football’s her passion, once she’s on the pitch she doesn’t care what’s happening around her.”
Watching her daughter at her first World Cup hasn’t quite sunk in for her either. “We’re just going, ‘yeah we’re over in Australia to watch a World Cup but me child’s in it’. It’s mad, absolutely mad”.
There are perks for them too, with plenty of offers of free drinks once people find out they’re Abbie’s parents. They will be drowning their sorrows this evening.