PDA

View Full Version : Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland - Thursday 4th June 2015 - Behind Closed Doors



Pages : [1] 2

nigel-harps1954
27/04/2015, 4:08 PM
Republic of Ireland to join Northern Ireland in behind closed doors training game

The Football Association of Ireland today (April 27) announced that Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland side will play a closed doors training match against Northern Ireland at Aviva Stadium on Thursday June 4.The game is intended by both managers as a training exercise prior to important European qualifiers in Group D against Scotland, and in Group F against Romania.

For the Republic of Ireland it will come three days before the Three International friendly against England at Aviva Stadium on June 7, and the EURO 2016 qualifier against Scotland, also at Aviva Stadium on June 13.

Speaking today, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill said, “With the season ending early for a lot of our players, we see this as a mutually beneficial exercise for both sides. Holding the match behind closed doors will give us the flexibility to make any changes we see fit ahead of the European qualifiers on June 13. The championship season ends on May 2, and if players are not involved in play-offs, that could be over a month without any games. It represents an ideal opportunity to build the intensity of our preparations, leading into the England friendly, and before the important qualifier against Scotland.”

Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said, “It was important for us to get a quality game before the EURO 2016 qualifier against Romania at home on June 13 and this game provides the perfect scenario on the back of the Qatar friendly.

“Having the game behind closed doors will allow both myself and Martin flexibility, which we wouldn’t have under normal international circumstances, and it will also help greatly in terms of our preparations for the important qualifier against Romania the following weekend.”


The training match will be held behind closed doors with no public or media access. The match will not constitute an official friendly international as it is intended to give both managers the flexibility required for training purposes

zero
27/04/2015, 4:13 PM
unusual - i can't remember us playing a training game against another country before.

good to see the two associations seem to be getting on ok, and should be good practice ahead of the scotland match.

jbyrne
27/04/2015, 4:16 PM
unusual - i can't remember us playing a training game against another country before.


pretty sure we played Scotland in Malta in a training match in the week or two before WC 1990

nigel-harps1954
27/04/2015, 4:17 PM
unusual - i can't remember us playing a training game against another country before.

good to see the two associations seem to be getting on ok, and should be good practice ahead of the scotland match.

My guess would be a 30-something man squad with a heap of extra uncapped additions to introduce people to the squad.

DannyInvincible
27/04/2015, 4:41 PM
Will we at least be able to watch it on teletext?

SkStu
27/04/2015, 4:59 PM
I think ceefax will be doing updates Danny.

seanfhear
27/04/2015, 5:34 PM
If Northern Ireland qualify for the Euros (and we don't) we may have to ask them to take us back ! ! ! ! !

I suppose we will have to let them win the training game though ! ! ! ! !

TrapAPony
27/04/2015, 7:23 PM
Think this is a good idea if it's used to try new formations and new players. Northern Ireland would be similar to Scotland in style of play too.

osarusan
28/04/2015, 10:56 AM
Martin O'Neill finally gets a chance to play that 4-9-2 formation he's been thinking about.

Stuttgart88
28/04/2015, 11:50 AM
Good idea. Both teams can claim to have won too, a bit like when Scotland beat Iraq that time.

tetsujin1979
28/04/2015, 11:54 AM
Will there be anyone in the stadium at all, outside of the players, management, medical staff, etc?

Gather round
28/04/2015, 12:39 PM
Relieved this isn't a standard friendly with inevitable misbehavior by some of our fans.

Any chance you might call up some Gort Brazilians (see threads passim)? Useful preparation for our later game with Qatar ;)

OwlsFan
28/04/2015, 1:48 PM
Relieved this isn't a standard friendly with inevitable misbehavior by some of our fans.

Any chance you might call up some Gort Brazilians (see threads passim)? Useful preparation for our later game with Qatar ;)

Congrats on the league title. Doubt if you've had many of them over the years to celebrate although, showing my age here, I do remember the Crues playing Liverpool in the European Cup back in the 1970s ?

DeLorean
28/04/2015, 4:06 PM
"Keep clear of the rats" - Some Northern Ireland fans are not too happy about the June Aviva friendly (http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/keep-clear-of-the-rats-some-northern-ireland-fans-are-not-too-happy-about-the-june-aviva-friendly-31178047.html)


When Ireland and Northern Ireland meet in a behind-closed-doors friendly in June, some of the latter team's fan my well be praying for a poor performance from Michael O'Neill's side.

With the likes of James McClean, Darron Gibson and Shane Duffy defecting from the North and choosing to play for the Republic of Ireland instead, there is a strong feeling amongst some Northern fans that the FAI may try and lure more players down south.

"So a behind closed doors 'friendly' in Dublin v the Republic on the 4th June. Why are we still having anything to do with that shower?," read a post on the Facbook page for Our Wee Country - a Northern Ireland fans group.

"Never play them unless forced. Are people serious. Actively stealing our players and a chief executive who revels in party tunes. Disgraceful IFA."

While the game will serve as a warm-up exercise to the crucial June internationals, it is quite clear that there is a bigger picture for many Northern fans with protecting their players higher on their agenda.

Here are a selection of comments on the Our Wee Country Facebook page.

"I guess the U.K. 'C' team need to check up on how our players are coming along to see which uncapped ones they might wanna try and stroke next! Surely plenty of other teams we could play?! Why we still maintain any relationship with the underhand bigoted scum at 'Football Apartheid Ireland' is beyond me."

"The IFA will bleat about foul play when the FAI steal players born in Northern Ireland yet they fall over backwards to agree to this game? Disgraceful."

"Absolute joke! Just a chance for them to try and take our uncapped players! Why there's no fans allowed in is beyond me! Let's hope Micheal O'Neill actually plays a decent team out to avoid an embarrassing defeat when Republic play their A team and we have virtually a C team out. The IFA have done it again."

"We have the same problem in Scotland. Scottish players playing for ROI because their mam's granny's dog was was from Dublin. I think you should only be allowed to play for the country you were born in retrospective of anything else."

"Shocking decision!!! Keep clear of these rats unless we have to in a qualifier."

"Eh? I'd like to see that, a chance to beat our nearest rivals and get their fans to pipe down."

A spokesperson for Irish fans group, YouBoysInGreen, said: "Ireland go into a crucial game against Scotland on June 13 so this run out against another Celtic Nations team is most welcome.

"While we can understand that some Northern Ireland fans are angry because the likes of McClean decided to play for us, it should be stressed that these players are entitled to a choose themselves. Every player has a choice and whatever decision they make should be respected."

DannyInvincible
28/04/2015, 4:38 PM
Haha, I can only laugh at that selection. Embarrassingly infantile comments that expose to the wider public the hypocrisy and intolerance that riddles that cesspit. The lack of self-awareness (or willingness to take responsibility for themselves) is startling; blaming the FAI for "apartheid in Ireland" when it's NI fans and unionists who have wanted nothing to do with the rest of us for decades, and still don't. If they really want an end to "apartheid", they're more than free to vote for anti-partition parties in the next election...

Stupid language too by whoever wrote the article; "lure"? :rolleyes: Player's make the decision themselves.

tetsujin1979
28/04/2015, 5:35 PM
No by-line on that link. I wouldn't put my name to a collection of posts from a football forum masquerading as an article either

Charlie Darwin
29/04/2015, 12:10 AM
It's probably more likely at this stage that there'll be one or two members of the Ireland team who are poached by the North.

Gather round
29/04/2015, 5:14 AM
......

Gather round
29/04/2015, 5:20 AM
Congrats on the league title. Doubt if you've had many of them over the years to celebrate although, showing my age here, I do remember the Crues playing Liverpool in the European Cup back in the 1970s ?

Thank you. As well as the Liverpool game (couldn't get off school alas, no floodlights so afternoon games in those days), I remember letting in 11 to Dinamo Bucharest in the European Cup :D


NI fans and unionists who have wanted nothing to do with the rest of us for decades, and still don't. If they really want an end to "apartheid", they're more than free to vote for anti-partition parties in the next election...

Ouch. Will you be standing for an anti-partition party in Manchester Central?

DeLorean
29/04/2015, 10:26 AM
No by-line on that link. I wouldn't put my name to a collection of posts from a football forum masquerading as an article either

Fore sure, and Facebook is even worse than your average forum. You generally tend to have some tiny bit of interest or knowledge to go to the effort of registering on a forum, but you can like a Facebook page in one click. Nothing diminishes a person's faith in humanity like reading through a Facebook thread. It's pretty sad what The Independent has become even reporting that crap.

DannyInvincible
29/04/2015, 11:26 AM
Ouch. Will you be standing for an anti-partition party in Manchester Central?

Ha, you'll be pleased to hear I'll be voting Green (hey, they're the right colour!); a party that I would like to see effect things locally here, although I fear my vote will count for naught under the present electoral system. Voters and candidates in NI will be the ones who decide on the constitutional/border question, but you miss my point. A few NI fans on Slugger failed to grasp it too, so perhaps I'm not articulating it well enough. I'm not the one bleating, pontificating, pointing accusatory fingers and telling others that they should be unconditionally opposing "apartheid in Ireland", and especially not whilst at the same time actually supporting partition. If someone supports partition, that's fine. You know that's how I feel. I'd never pontificate to someone opposed to it. I'd respect their view. I further acknowledge that many from nationalist backgrounds are presently content with the status quo anyway. I'm happy to wait myself. The status quo poses no insecurity in terms of the Irish identity of nationalists. That's fine.

The only finger I point is to make an accusation of tiresome hypocrisy. I just wish OWCers (I know all NI fans aren't so lacking in self-awareness) wouldn't simultaneously pretend that unconditional sharing, ideas of unity with everyone and all that are their priority; as if they're above notions of identity and politics and only nationalists are "afflicted" by such "base" concerns, or as if the NI team is some social-cohesion project behind which everyone in the north is morally obliged to get because everyone signed up to the peace agreement. I could support partition and it wouldn't make me a hypocrite in this instance because I'm not putting expectations upon others that I wouldn't expect of myself. I'm not bringing partition up to have a debate about it really. We've had that debate in 1998 (we can still talk about it but it should be without imposing undue expectations upon the other) and any serious movement on it has been postponed until the Secretary of State decides otherwise. I only bring up the matter to make a point and expose the hypocrisy of NI fans going on about supposedly opposing "apartheid". I don't think that places any onus upon me. They want their own team that represents their world view over all else - which is fine - so they should just be honest about it. I'm just pointing out the hollowness of what is a bogus accusation; that if they're actually opposed to what they're claiming to be opposed, they're not demonstrating that very well by prioritising certain other terms at odds with that.

I added a comment to that OWC Facebook thread last night. I've since been blocked and the whole discussion, full of plenty of valid points, shut down and deleted. I can see it was obviously a source for much embarrassment, but, bleh... It's just facepalm, pre-Enlightenment era stuff. Heads back in the sand then, as usual... :rolleyes:

And considering it's at the level of gossip/light entertainment and not a "story" fit for a serious publication, I'm well aware I've gobbled up the Indo's bait! :o

zero
03/06/2015, 5:11 PM
the northern ireland game is tomorrow, k.o. time / game format unknown. i assume a standard 90 min.

DeLorean
03/06/2015, 5:14 PM
Will we even find out who won?!

Charlie Darwin
03/06/2015, 6:19 PM
Will we even find out who won?!
Depends who wins.

DannyInvincible
03/06/2015, 6:32 PM
Tony O'Donoghue tells me on Twitter that it begins at 1PM. Although he isn't as sure about when it will end!

DannyInvincible
03/06/2015, 6:50 PM
I'm guessing drone plans fell through for legal reasons: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republic-of-ireland-v-northern-ireland-fans-to-record-secret-football-clash-with-drones-31183679.html

Or has anyone heard of any further developments?

The FAI will be tweeting updates (https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/606154782705872896) at least.

TheOneWhoKnocks
04/06/2015, 2:37 AM
Hot off the presses..

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/changed-times-as-northern-ireland-come-for-kickabout-1.2236364

Stuttgart88
04/06/2015, 10:25 AM
So Randolph thinks it's ok to be on his holidays in the US instead of trying to earn his place. Disgrace really.

TrapAPony
04/06/2015, 10:42 AM
So Randolph thinks it's ok to be on his holidays in the US instead of trying to earn his place. Disgrace really.

Family reasons

Stuttgart88
04/06/2015, 10:43 AM
Irony, Trap, irony. Or Sarcasm. Whatever.

Stuttgart88
04/06/2015, 1:18 PM
Change the record. Walters is injured.

Stuttgart88
04/06/2015, 1:19 PM
Two nil ROI after 18 mins. Murphy header from a McGeady corner, Arter with a shot from 22 yards.

DannyInvincible
04/06/2015, 1:31 PM
Recurring theme with Walters. Bet my bottom dollar he will be fit enough to start the prestige friendly against England though. Other players have to try and impress the manager against Northern Ireland. Reflects how safe his place in the team is IMHO.

McShane's attitude is what I want to see. Arrive on time to integrate with the rest of the squad - even though you aren't fit to train.

You appear to be accusing Walters of faking injury, yet this was from the very article you linked:


Jonathan Walters and Wes Hoolahan also missed yesterday’s session and O’Neill sounded sceptical enough afterwards about either of them now featuring in a game that will be so informal that the manager remains uncertain even as to whether it will be divided into halves or thirds.

“I am not sure if they will be involved tomorrow at some stage,” he said. “It’s less of a problem for Wes [than for the other Championship players] because he played not so long ago. It’s the same with Jon but I am hoping that when they have had scans and X-rays [(on slight knee problems] that they are perfectly alright.”

Honestly, can a mod please keep things like this in check or just sort this crap out once and for all? It's beyond ridiculous at this stage.

DannyInvincible
04/06/2015, 1:32 PM
Two nil ROI after 18 mins. Murphy header from a McGeady corner, Arter with a shot from 22 yards.

Where are you getting the updates from? Not much going on on the FAI's Twitter account.

geysir
04/06/2015, 1:43 PM
Stutts's gut instinct, me thinks.

Stuttgart88
04/06/2015, 1:43 PM
I snuck in, wearing a Garda uniform.

Charlie Darwin
04/06/2015, 1:47 PM
Match apparently started late as both teams came out wearing green. Northern Ireland apparently on top, had a shot into the side netting, while McGeady's had Ireland's only chance. Still 0-0.

Real ale Madrid
04/06/2015, 1:52 PM
Two nil ROI after 18 mins. Murphy header from a McGeady corner, Arter with a shot from 22 yards.

2-1 now - o.g. from McClean after he forgot who he was playing for.

Edit - NI playing in ROI white away kit.

TrapAPony
04/06/2015, 1:58 PM
0-0 current real score. Westwood, Christie, Arter, McGeady & McClean all playing. Northern Ireland by far the better team allegedly. They hit the bar & Westwood saved a 1 on 1.

nigel-harps1954
04/06/2015, 2:01 PM
We're gonna win the World Cup lads, I can feel it in me bones.

pateen
04/06/2015, 2:01 PM
updates here too

https://twitter.com/CMcLaughlin84

Charlie Darwin
04/06/2015, 2:02 PM
Hilarious that NI have brought journalists with them but no Irish ones allowed in. Oh FAI, never change (please change).

TrapAPony
04/06/2015, 2:04 PM
FAI promised updates on Twitter yesterday but never bothered, not that we need them now.

Charlie Darwin
04/06/2015, 2:06 PM
Cox and McShane started too by the looks of it: https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/606442649906724865

TrapAPony
04/06/2015, 2:06 PM
We're gonna win the World Cup lads, I can feel it in me bones.

Ya, if it contained ourselves, San Marino, Andorra & Gibraltar.


Cox and McShane started too by the looks of it: https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/606442649906724865

Cox was dropped from the squad. It has to be someone else. Murphy?

Charlie Darwin
04/06/2015, 2:09 PM
Ah, that could be Murphy so. Looks like I was taken in by that twitter account, it's a joke.

osarusan
04/06/2015, 2:38 PM
Looks like I was taken in by that twitter account, it's a joke.
You sure?

It's fairly mundane for a p!ss-take.

Maybe there was just a mistake about Cox, or did he claim to see a teamsheet in earlier tweets?

EDIT: never mind, you are talking about a different twitter account. I thought you were talking about the Conor McLaughlin account.

Charlie Darwin
04/06/2015, 2:39 PM
Cox was just my own observation from the photo (which is genuine). It's the Conor guy who's on a wind-up.

osarusan
04/06/2015, 2:41 PM
So the FAI one is genuine (but not tweeting much) and the McLaughlin one is a windup?

Charlie Darwin
04/06/2015, 3:02 PM
Correct, yes. Some genuine ones here too: https://twitter.com/BrendyBoyle