Northern Ireland lost 3-0 to Norway to suffer a 7-0 aggregate defeat in their Euro 2025 qualifying play-off.
Long-time nemesis Caroline Graham Hansen struck again before further goals from Arsenal’s Frida Maanum and Atletico Madrid’s Synne Jensen completed the scoring as Norway, 16th in the FIFA rankings and 29 places above Northern Ireland, secured their progress.
Having already been beaten 4-0 at Inver Park on Friday, Northern Ireland started the night in Oslo knowing there was little prospect of going to Switzerland next year, but there was a desire to give a better account of themselves.
But Norway were quickly on the front foot and took the lead when Hansen was able to cut in from the left, wriggle away from a couple of challenges and then beat Jackie Burns with a low shot across goal – the Barcelona forward’s 50th Norway goal and 12th against Northern Ireland.
Ada Hegerberg missed a chance to add a second before Maren Mjelde crashed a shot against the crossbar following a corner, with Burns denying Maanum from the rebound.
The chances kept coming as Ingrid Syrstad Engen bent a shot on to the post, but Northern Ireland made it to the break only 1-0 down.
However, Norway needed less than two minutes of the second half to double their lead with Maanum nicking the ball off Rebecca McKenna inside the box and squeezing a shot in at the near post.
The third came in the 79th minute with the help of a deflection. Norway substitute Jensen burst forward on a counter-attack and cut inside to hit a shot which deflected off McKenna to loop over the helpless Burns.
