Armenia V Republic of Ireland - Friday, 3rd September 2010 - Euro 2012 Qualifier

[Crosby87]

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooo

thank god! now DONT GIVE ONE BACK!

[thischarmingman]

Ah just the man to lead us to victory....Keith Fahey.

Oops.

[gustavo]

:D Good man Fahey

[brine3]

Ah just the man to lead us to victory....Keith Fahey.

You were sayin?? haha

[EastTerracer]

Thank feck for that!

[shakermaker1982]

YES. Nice one Fahey. McGeady would have missed that. CONCENTRATE now.

[Brendan 82]

lovely little finish. cool head

[tricky_colour]

Now lets bolt the stable door ;)

[Sullivinho]

Oh sweet mercy. Now hold onto it FFS.

[Cymro]

Harsh on Armenia to be fair, they've been the better team in the 2nd half.

[tetsujin1979]

time to park the bus

[Closed Account]

Yes! Go on the Fats.

Nervous for next 11+ minutes....

[theworm2345]

I love Robbie but its time he came off, this is not how your captain should act

[shakermaker1982]

time to park the bus

Jumbo jet!

[the 12 th man]

Took it brilliantly,many's the striker would have skied that chance.

[Sullivinho]

Ah just the man to lead us to victory....Keith Fahey.

Truth be told, I felt as dismissive as yourself.

[pineapple stu]

Never knew Fahey had a right foot.

[Closed Account]

Harsh on Armenia to be fair, they've been the better team in the 2nd half.
Will ya shush, we don't want any of you realism in here.

[Crosby87]

I wasnt being sarcastic! I swear! I think he is suited to the Intl game.

[tricky_colour]

Ten minutes of buttock clenching remain :laugh:

[theworm2345]

Shay has looked a bit shaky at times, a clean sheet would do him a world of good I think

[Sullivinho]

Ah just the man to lead us to victory....Andy Keogh.

...

Well it worked once right?

[tetsujin1979]

Keogh can play where Doyle has been for the game, and push Doyler (MOTM for me) up front in place of Robbie

[Cymro]

Surely at this stage you'd be looking to bring on an extra man in midfield? 4-4-2's done its job now I'd imagine.

[tetsujin1979]

suicide pass there from Green

[Crosby87]

Russia 0 Andorra 0 in the 1st half

[Closed Account]

Well done John O'Shea. Green being badly found out in a competitive fixture. I'm not writing him off, but he's been fasttracked to this position and maybe it was unfair on him.

[Cymro]

Good save there by Given.

[Schumi]

Russia 0 Andorra 0 in the 1st half
1-0 Russia now.

[Closed Account]

Surely at this stage you'd be looking to bring on an extra man in midfield? 4-4-2's done its job now I'd imagine. I can see where you're coming from but Trap has shown that he is a slave to the system. 4-4-2 hasn't conceded yet. We should be holding on to the ball at this stage and dictating but we've never been capable of that.

[tricky_colour]

Were hanging on

[theworm2345]

What did Doyle eat for breakfast this morning?

[Crosby87]

Blow the whistle!

[tetsujin1979]

Good run from Keogh to take the pressure off, Doyle unlucky not to score or get an assist

All over. 3 points. Everything else is irrelevant for a few hours.

[Brendan 82]

They went after Kilbane again and again

[theworm2345]

They went after Kilbane again and again
And thats why they didn't score ;)

[Noelys Guitar]

Huge win. Scotland, NI and Wales would have lost that match. Hard to watch but 3 points when we all wake up tomorrow.

[Crosby87]

Just have to hope we dont have massive injuries for the Russia game....could have used Duff today...
well 3 points are 3 points. Sigh.

[SwanVsDalton]

Thank feck for that! It'll do. We were probably a little fortunate but I'll leave post match analysis till after I've stopped hyperventilating...

[pineapple stu]

Good three points. They'll take points off one of the others at home (probably Macedonia, but still). Not a great performance from what I could see, but a definite banana skin avoided.

Wish I was in Yerevan now though. :(

[Sullivinho]

Amnesty International called. They're looking into the Irish national team's torture of their own fans.

I'd expect the Russians and Slovaks to do that lot but it'l be a massive bonus for us if one of them slip up out there.

Kevin Doyle...supreme.

Phew!

[Brendan 82]

They might pull of a surprise draw against one of the top two in the group. Then we'll really be delighted with this result

[elroy]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Good first half performance, not so good in the second half. Good goal by Fahey well taken. Lads that is a big result, we dont win many games away from home and that can set the tone for the campaign. No team will go there and beat them well. The lads looked fecked at the end particularly Whelan, Lawro and Green. Really couldve done with someone coming on in midfield to bolster the last 10 mins.

[strangeirish]

From RTE...

Armenia 0-1 Republic of Ireland

Friday, 3 September 2010 17:53
A second-half goal from Keith Andrews was enough to give the Republic of Ireland a winning start in their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

More to follow.......
:laugh:

[Noelys Guitar]

Lawerence played very well in second half. Given slow off his line a couple of times and I still don't completely trust us when defending from corner kicks. Whelan improved second half and Green gets stuck in but has to improve his decision making regards leaving passes short and making square passes in dangerous positions. Good luck to Russia and Slovakia when they play these away!

[Stuttgart88]

Huge win. Scotland, NI and Wales would have lost that match. Hard to watch but 3 points when we all wake up tomorrow.Yep, zero out of ten for enjoyment value. 3 points though. Left back area looked really vulnerable.

[noddy102]

Excellent victory.

3 points is all that matters, and that fixture was very very tricky, considering the season has only begun and the temperature and heat the players were playing under.

So happy for Fahey - delighted to see him get us the victory.

Roll on goals on Tuesday!

[thischarmingman]

Super start. For what it's worth I though we deserved it but to be honest, noone will remember the intricacies of the game after today- getting the 3 points was the objective.

As Daniel McConnell wrote today (http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/trap-roadshow-can-gain-early-momentum-2322892.html):


Two years ago, Ireland were in Montenegro and came away with a draw which, considering the heat and the difficulty of the assignment, was regarded as a satisfactory outcome. Four points from six was deemed an acceptable return from the opening two games, following a win over Georgia in Mainz.

Yet Trapattoni, at that point, was speaking about Italy as likely group winners and Ireland immersed in a race for second. So, it was an acceptable result in that context. Later, after two draws with Italy that could have been wins, there was rueful reflection on the occasions where the Azzurri built up the lead; specifically, seeing off Bulgaria on home soil and going to Montenegro and winning.

Oh, and delighted for Fahey also :)

[rebelmusic]

Might aswell throw out the Player Ratings

Given -5 : Probably the worst performance i've seen from Shay. But a clean sheet and a couple of confident saves at the end should end any issues
O'Shea -7 : Very composed on the ball i thought, very little attacks came in from right full. Long balls were a little wasteful
Dunne -8 : Usual solid self, except for a very close to OG howler. Decision making was spot on bar that
Ledge -6 : Pretty solid but made a couple of bad decisions. Still think the oshea dunne partnership is stronger
Kilbane -3 : Almost every dangerous armenian attack came from left full. Kept drifting into the center...should be his last start, ever!

Lawrence -7 : Played well i thought. Some nice crossing and won most of the decent free kicks. Still deserves to be picked
Whelan -6 : Definitely the more composed in the centre. Did very little wrong, but still lacking a lot of imagination. Broke up play well at times
Green -4 : Some decent enough break up play but a few absolute howlers and seems a liabilty to me. Gibson is a far better option.
McGeady -4 : Anonymous and wasteful. Did one decent cross in the whole game. First touch was very poor

Keane -7 : Made the goal in fairness. Missed a couple of sitters but a few goals against andorra will sort him out. Still our most important player
Doyle -8 : Terrific hold up play, some lovely runs, should have got a goal. Man of the match

Subs
Fahey -6: Goal was very well taken, besides that some nice defensive play. Should start over McGeady
Keogh -6: Did well i thought coming on at the end. Not much to do, but helped where he could.

[noddy102]

Might aswell throw out the Player Ratings

Given -5 : Probably the worst performance i've seen from Shay. But a clean sheet and a couple of confident saves at the end should end any issues
O'Shea -7 : Very composed on the ball i thought, very little attacks came in from right full. Long balls were a little wasteful
Dunne -8 : Usual solid self, except for a very close to OG howler. Decision making was spot on bar that
Ledge -6 : Pretty solid but made a couple of bad decisions. Still think the oshea dunne partnership is stronger
Kilbane -3 : Almost every dangerous armenian attack came from left full. Kept drifting into the center...should be his last start, ever!

Lawrence -7 : Played well i thought. Some nice crossing and won most of the decent free kicks. Still deserves to be picked
Whelan -6 : Definitely the more composed in the centre. Did very little wrong, but still lacking a lot of imagination. Broke up play well at times
Green -4 : Some decent enough break up play but a few absolute howlers and seems a liabilty to me. Gibson is a far better option.
McGeady -4 : Anonymous and wasteful. Did one decent cross in the whole game. First touch was very poor

Keane -7 : Made the goal in fairness. Missed a couple of sitters but a few goals against andorra will sort him out. Still our most important player
Doyle -8 : Terrific hold up play, some lovely runs, should have got a goal. Man of the match

Subs
Fahey -6: Goal was very well taken, besides that some nice defensive play. Should start over McGeady
Keogh -6: Did well i thought coming on at the end. Not much to do, but helped where he could.

So harsh on Kilbane. Harsh on Green and McGeady too.