Editorial: Brave Lionesses don’t quite make it – this time

​The English women were favourites to win yesterday’s world cup final, but in the event narrowly lost to Spain.

​Across Northern Ireland people will have been cheering on the Lionesses, who were seen has having a good chance of victory in Australia but missed out by a goal. Even so they have given a great boost both to women’s football and to the hopes of British teams in overseas competitions.

"Overcoming so many challenges, I think we can be very proud of ourselves,” said their manager Sarina Wiegman. So they can.

Even aside from the success of the Lionesses, this women's world cup has been celebrated as a massive success globally, with some teams performing way above expected standards and some shock results showing the magnificent growth of the game. An interesting local angle to recent events in the game is the fact that the new Northern Ireland women's manager Tanya Oxtoby – who was confirmed last Friday by the Irish FA – is Australian and been working over there as a commentator, so will come back to her new role for us having first-hand experience of this thrilling tournament.

The Northern Ireland Women’s Team has actually been in existence for half a century but only in recent years has burst to prominence. Oxtoby has strong club CV coaching in England, so she will bring excellent experience of football that level. After England’s run of success, there will be even more local interest in the NI women players.

As for England, whether it is the men’s team or the women’s, the national sides get ever closer to glory.

The men’s 2020 Euros, which were in fact played the following year due to the pandemic, saw England reach the finals, but lose on penalties, something that they have done multiple times in major semis. They so deserve to lift a top trophy – and likely will, soon.