WEST FIFE football star Caroline Weir suffered World Cup heartbreak as Scotland missed out on a place at next summer’s finals.

The Dunfermline-born midfielder, alongside Ballingry native, and former St Columba’s High School pupil, Lucy Graham, were seeking to take the national team to the tournament in Tuesday’s play-off final with the Republic of Ireland.

Pedro Martinez Losa’s side, who had finished second in their qualifying group, had beaten Austria at Hampden on Thursday in the semi-final thanks to Abi Harrison’s extra-time winner. That then put Scotland through to face the Irish, where a win would either take them to the finals in Australia and New Zealand automatically, or into an inter-continental play-off.

The two winners with the highest ranking from three play-off matches qualified automatically, with the other going on to play in a 10-team, inter-confederation tournament, in February, which will decide the final three qualifiers.

Roared on by a record competitive crowd for a Scotland women’s match, of 10,708, the Scots had the ideal chance to take a first-half lead – and it fell to Real Madrid star Weir.

The former Dunfermline High School pupil, winning her 92nd cap, was given the chance to score from the spot after a handball was awarded in Scotland’s favour following a Martha Thomas shot.

Weir, who moved to Spain from Manchester City in the summer, stepped up but, agonisingly, Ireland goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan leapt to her left to keep out her effort.

Following that miss, the Scots struggled to create clear-cut opportunities to score, while surviving a few scares from their opponents, who broke clear to score through Amber Barrett with 18 minutes to go.

That took Ireland to their first finals, as Scotland missed out on a second in a row.