How the Irish team judged
Courtney Brosnan (Everton)
Justified Vera Pauw’s faith in her. Took two smart saves in the initial 10 minutes and made a spectacular one just before the break. Could not do anything about the goal and refused to be beaten in the second half. Grade: 8
Niamh Fahey (Liverpool)
Made a critical mistake in the lead up to the goal, went halfway for a tackle on the Swedish half of the field and caught up with the field. She had to either win the ball or make a mistake on the player and did neither, which left Ireland deadly stretched out in the back. Grade: 5
Louise Quinn (Birmingham City)
Organized her defense so well during the first 40 minutes, which made it so unfortunate that the own goal cannoned in from her. Double marked by the Swedes at Irish death games and should have had a penalty on one of them. Grade: 7
Savannah McCarthy (Galway WFC)
Premature slip left Louise Quinn invisible when the shot came in for what became the own goal. But otherwise, the game read intelligently and made some clever interceptions. Grade: 6
Áine O’Gorman (Peamount United)
Always capable and secure in position on the back, with regard to her patch at all times. Ireland could have managed to be a little more adventurous on the ball. Grade: 5
Katie McCabe (Arsenal)
So confident on the ball. Just a shame that she generally had to settle for being on her own half of the pitch rather than further up the pitch. Atypically sloppy from dead balls and did not get much of a goal. Grade: 7
Jamie Finn (Birmingham City)
Shaky in ball possession in the first half, often a little too eager to get rid of when Ireland needed someone who braked. Much more powerful and braver after a break. Grade: 5
Megan Connolly (Brighton and Hove Albion)
Had the hardest job of the Irish players, trying to curb the Swedish flow through the midfield and get on the ball. Gave away a lot of ball possession but never stopped working, characterized by a brilliant block in injury time. Grade: 5
Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage)
Ireland needed about eight of her on the pitch but had to settle for doing her usual job with three. Always seemed to listen and start attacks that got stuck in the work before she had time to sprint up and go with them. Late arm injury a major concern. Grade: 7
Heather Payne (Florida State Seminoles)
Ran until she got her knees. Came in a couple of times and clearly had the pace for Ilestedt but goalkeeper Lindahl was always quick to deny her. Grateful task. Grade: 6
Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City)
Had to spend much more time than she liked in her own defense. Always tried to do more with the ball than just buzzing it off, but fatigue made it all the more unlikely. A half chance fell to her early in the second half but she did not hit the target.
Grade: 6
Substitute
Leanne Kiernan made a fair cut on an impression of Payne when she came on, and fought a lone but lively battle at the front. Amber Barrett did not get much speed on things and was about to get caught offside unnecessarily. Saoirse Noonan was not long enough on his debut. Grade: 6
Manager: Vera Pauw
The improvement in this Irish law is obvious over the last year. Stuck with Courtney Brosnan in goal despite many doubts and was rewarded. Will in the end be judged on Finland’s games rather than the Swedish ones, but this was promising. Grade: 7