Ireland v Kazakhstan live updates: Ireland in command going into playoff second leg

Ireland v Kazakhstan, Tuesday 7.30pmHello all, welcome to our live updates from Páirc Ui Chaoimh where Ireland will play the second leg of their World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final against Kazakhstan this evening (live on RTÉ 2, kick-off 7.30). Now, seeing as Carla Ward’s crew won the first leg 8-0 in Astana last Friday, we’re not anticipating a nerve-shredding evening. Indeed, with the return of captain Katie McCabe and midfielder Denise O’Sullivan to the team, this could prove to be the very longest of nights for the visitors. McCabe and O’Sullivan are among four changes Ward has made to the side that began the first leg, Shanade Hopcroft coming in for her first start for Ireland after making her debut in Astana and Hayley Nolan taking Caitlin Hayes’ place in defence. Kyra Carusa, Jamie Finn and Chloe Mustaki also drop out.Ireland: Brosnan; Mannion, Patten, Nolan, Stapleton, McCabe; O’Sullivan, Connolly; Hopcroft; Larkin, Murphy. If Kazakhstan were to win, say, 10-1 tonight, we’d be left with egg on our faces because we’ll soon be telling you who Ireland will face in their play-off final: Poland or Belgium. They’re in to the closing stages of the second leg of their play-off semi-final in Gdansk and it’s all square on aggregate. Belgium won the first leg 1-0 in Leuven last Friday, but it’s 2-1 to Poland this evening with 10 minutes to go. We’ll update you on that soon, for now you can read Gavin Cummiskey’s match preview.[ Carla Ward urges Ireland to build on eight-goal lead over KazakhstanOpens in new window ]They’re about to get up and running in Páirc Ui Chaoimh - and it’s a zinger in Gdansk. Jarne Teulings’ extra-time goal looked like putting Belgium through, but Poland are now 3-2 up on the night, making it 3-3 on aggregate. They’re in to extra-time in Gdansk, Poland and Belgium still level on aggregate. Who would Ireland like to prevail? Poland, probably. And that’s not because they’re ranked eight places below Ireland in the Fifa list, whereas Belgium are three places higher - you should never really pay much heed to rankings. It’s more down to Ireland having beaten the Poles home and away as recently as April, in their World Cup qualifying group. Mind you, both wins were only by one-goal margins. Ireland and Belgium last met in the Nations League play-offs a year ago, Ireland winning the first leg 4-2 at the Aviva Stadium before losing the second 2-1 in Leuven. But Abbie Larkin’s injury time goal gave Ireland a 5-4 aggregate win. Either way, it’ll be a somewhat sterner test than the one poor Kazakhstan have offered.