Amber Barrett scored surely the most important goal in the history of the Republic of Ireland’s women’s team to secure Vera Pauw’s impressive side a place in the finals of their first major tournament. Thanks to Barrett’s stellar second-half finish the underdogs are heading to Australia and New Zealand for next summer’s World Cup finals, leaving Scotland, and Caroline Weir especially, reflecting on what might have been. Barrett, a trainee school teacher turned professional striker for Germany’s Turbine Potsdam, secured a major upset as the favourites never recovered from Weir’s first half penalty miss and ended up losing this European playoff final at a somewhat stunned Hampden Park. Two heavyweight managers – in the strictly metaphorical sense – patrolled adjacent technical areas. While Scotland’s Spanish coach Pedro Martínez Losa was previously in charge of Arsenal and Bordeaux, Pauw was manager of the home side from 1998-2004. During that tenure, the Dutchwoman, who has also managed the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa and Houston Dash, went beyond the call of duty to help ensure women’s football started to be taken seriously north of Hadrian’s Wall. If Pauw relished this return to her former Hampden habitat with a side hoping to qualify for their first major tournament, Martínez Losa was planning to “inspire a generation” by guiding his side to their second successive World Cup finals. This ambition suffered a setback in the 14th minute when, having secured a handball penalty awarded against Niamh Fahey, Caroline Weir saw her spot-kick parried clear by Courtney Brosnan. The goalkeeper did extremely well but Weir, whose bright interchange with Fiona Brown had landed Fahey in trouble, must still have been disappointed not to have evaded Brosnan’s reach. All in all it proved an extremely frustrating opening half for Scotland with the Republic’s back five sitting deep, persistently frustrating their hosts and, significantly, negating Erin Cuthbert’s customary influence in midfield. Martínez Losa had reason for relief when Megan Campbell’s long free-kick flew straight into the the back of the net. With no player having touched it en route it was automatically disallowed but the Scotland defence must have been mightily relieved Ireland’s Lily Agg did not manage to capitalise on apparently crossed wires between their goalkeeper Lee Gibson and Sophie Howard by connecting with that delivery. Those home fans had another fright when Áine O’Gorman subsequently rose above all comers to meet a cross and directed a header wastefully wide from six yards. Maybe it was Scottish nerves or perhaps simply a reflection of Ireland’s encouraging progress under Pauw but half-time could not come soon enough for a visibly stressed Martínez Losa. Shortly before the interval the results from the two other European playoffs filtered through, revealing that after two sets of extra time, Portugal had beaten Iceland 4-1 and Switzerland had defeated Wales 2-1. It all dictated that, in order to avoid February’s inter-confederation, inter-continental playoffs in New Zealand in February, Scotland needed to win by three clear goals, while any sort of victory would sweep Ireland straight to next summer’s World Cup. Pauw though probably spent the break rueing Irish ill luck after her side concluded the opening 45 minutes by conjuring a treble chance which, in extremely quick succession, saw Howard twice clear the ball off the line and Gibson save smartly as Agg, Denise O’Sullivan and Fahey all came mighty close to scoring. The second period began with Cuthbert reminding Hampden of her quality by carving out a chance a stretching Brown could not quite make the most of. With the hitherto subdued Claire Emslie similarly cueing Weir up for another near-miss, Scotland had raised their game but, without scoring, simply establishing a degree of technical and tactical superiority was insufficient. Such artistic merit soon proved totally academic as Irish substitute Amber Barrett silenced Hampden after giving Pauw’s side a shock lead. Not for the first time Scotland were guilty of a slapdash loss of possession and, seizing the ball courtesy of the surest of first touches, Barrett advanced with incision and intelligence, placing her shot beyond Gibson and inside the far post.