Republic of Ireland V Gibraltar(A) 4th Sept & Georgia(H) 7th Sept 2015 - Euro 2016 Q

[Colbert Report]

Absolutely magic from Hendrick. Messi-esque.

[DannyInvincible]

Fantastic play from Hendrick for the goal.

[SkStu]

Unbelievable Jeff! :)

[tricky_colour]

ha ha i backed Ireland 10 mins before goal :)

£1 at 13/10 :)

[tricky_colour]

now don't let one in

[Spudulika]

Ireland can get 2 or 3 more, but the subpar english academy development will have them hanging on for the last 10 minutes. Martin should get the players going forward, not cowering in our own half.

[DannyInvincible]

We need to maintain the tempo of the last 20 minutes and finish it off. I don't want my nails gone by the time 90 minutes are up.

[tricky_colour]

fffs nowt wrong with whelans challange ref is an asre

[Colbert Report]

Silly yellow from Whelan, that could cost us....

[Closed Account]

We need to maintain the tempo of the last 20 minutes and finish it off. I don't want my nails gone by the time 90 minutes are up.
Just got a text from POSH, he said Coleman is going to give away a penalty so we need to score a second.

[tricky_colour]

we neeed to keep the pressure on - that is the best form of defence

[Closed Account]

Silly yellow from Whelan, that could cost us....
I'd prefer if he missed the German game rather than the Polish.

[tricky_colour]

whelan should of shot

[tricky_colour]

ffs the last minuute was a long one

[DannyInvincible]

Long really should have scored that. Can't make it any easier than that really. Robbie'e bread and butter, that sort of thing.

[BonnieShels]

Ggggaaaahhhhh

[SkStu]

Walters has been brilliant again tonight.

Unlucky from Shane.

[tricky_colour]

walters going grey shows what 5 year playing ireland does to ya :p

[SkStu]

Scotland putting the gerries under pressure.

[BonnieShels]

Walters has been brilliant again tonight.

Unlucky from Shane.

He has. From minute one.

[Colbert Report]

Georgia down to ten men - Scotland pressing against Germany though.

[tricky_colour]

down to 10 men but still gotta keep the pressure on

[Closed Account]

Georgians will be playing with 10.
We probably won't use our last sub.

[BonnieShels]

Right on cue. My ticker starts.

[tricky_colour]

3 mins

[tricky_colour]

2 ..............................

[DannyInvincible]

Great stuff from James. Should relieve some tension.

[tricky_colour]

60 seconds to go. :):ball:

[Closed Account]

Yes, 1 min left in Scotland game. It's all over. Great 4 days for Ireland.

[SkStu]

Fantastic. I'll take that.

[DannyInvincible]

Fantastic to get the three points. Scotland lose. Yes! Great stuff.

[tricky_colour]

3 results Ireland Scotland and my bet that's as good as it gets. :)

[BonnieShels]

Only Kyle Lafferty put a dampener on my evening. Great results all around otherwise.

[BonnieShels]

"We have got to stop talking ourselves down"... " Germany haven't got the players"- Eamonn Dunphy

Ffs.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Big change in second half, whatever was said in dressing room - can imagine some Keane thunder and lightning maybe - did the business. There's the stuff Ireland can do: decent attacking football that creates chances. Should have won by more, and it was great to see the crowd find a voice. Best and worst of MON's Ireland tonight.

Given - 6. One minor scare, nothing much to do otherwise.
Coleman - 6. Not fit. Did well enough down the right, but crosses were poor. His cut-ins never lead to anything.
O'Shea - 6. A few good defensive moments here, some bad passes and fouls there.
Clark - 6. Pretty much the same. Never had much to do, but did slip-up for that second Georgia chance.
Brady - 7. Up and down all night, did something thick for everything good, but was getting involved all the time.
Whelan - 5. He was there. A few shots from distance, a stupid bit of guff to the ref. Won't cry any tears over his suspension.
McCarthy - 5. Honestly didn't think much of him out there, some occasional moments of good football, but a lot of errors and anonymity in sections.
Hendrick - 8. Took him a while to really make an impact, but he was our best attacking player by the end. Made the goal.
Hoolahan - 6. Like McCarthy, just a little bit better.
Walters - 7. Started well, but had faded big time by HT. Much bigger impact in second, well placed for the goal, but pace was a problem throughout.
Keane - 4. One bad shot choice, then failed to get on the end of a great through ball. Wasn't sorry to see him come off.

Long - 7. Threw himself around upfront, injected the kind of tempo Ireland really needed. Should have scored, and weirdly lackadaisical with that late chance.
McClean - 7. Crazy start to his brief time, but did great to set-up Long.

I wouldn't say I'm satisfied, and I worry what Germany might do to us, still needing points to confirm qualification. But this team can get third. They can get a point off Poland at least, and might not even need it. They just need to be motivated properly.

[DannyInvincible]

Everything has gone exactly to plan these last two rounds of fixtures results-wise. I really didn't think we'd be in this position after both Glasgow and then Scotland in Dublin. Great night all round. Fair play, lads!

[Colbert Report]

I think we're going to head into the final round of fixtures needing a draw at away to Poland. Germany will do us at home in the first match. Scotland are playing at home to Poland and if they get a draw then we'll need a draw against Poland in the last match because Scotland play Gibraltar in the final round and they won't lose there. They also have the tiebreak on us so we had better hope Scotland don't beat Poland at home. If they do, we'll need to beat Poland away to go through to the play-off.

At least we'll go into the final round knowing exactly what we need. We could still yet come in third as long as Poland beat Scotland - we could lose both of our next matches and still finish third if that was the case.

[SkStu]

Long really should have scored that. Can't make it any easier than that really. Robbie'e bread and butter, that sort of thing.

Really? I think that's very unfair to Long. McCleans cross was fast, not much time for Long to adjust his feet at all. A good chance, sure, but not as simple as being made out. Also, the sort of chance that Keane missed many times in his career and I don't think today's Keane would have been in that spot.

One more thing, I'd like to see a hd breakdown of that chance. In one of the replays it looked like Long actually got a touch on it, then blocked by defenders boot, then off Long and out for the goal kick. (My stream wasn't awful but wasn't great either).

[tricky_colour]

We were so much better second half, is that the difference Long for Keane makes?

The opposition get an easy ride with Keane, no real threat in the air or and no pace to worry about.
Long is a different kettle of fish.

At times it is like we have 10 men with Keane up front, one defender and deal with him with easy, not so
Long he has the pace to cause problems so you need an extra man for back up, that allows us to play, and play we did.

[Fergie's Son]

Poland beating Scotland would be very nice, thank you. They will be well up for it though so who knows but cross that bridge when we come to it...

[tricky_colour]

I think we're going to head into the final round of fixtures needing a draw at away to Poland. Germany will do us at home in the first match. Scotland are playing at home to Poland and if they get a draw then we'll need a draw against Poland in the last match because Scotland play Gibraltar in the final round and they won't lose there. They also have the tiebreak on us so we had better hope Scotland don't beat Poland at home. If they do, we'll need to beat Poland away to go through to the play-off.

At least we'll go into the final round knowing exactly what we need. We could still yet come in third as long as Poland beat Scotland - we could lose both of our next matches and still finish third if that was the case.


If Scotland get a draw and we beat Poland we will finish 2nd? :triumphant::positive:http://foot.ie/images/smilies/triumphant.png

[tricky_colour]

It is still all up in the air though but we are right in the race.

The second half was great never felt like we would concede and we were creating up from, making Georgia look poor, as we should.

[Crosby87]

Nice win. Feel kind of stupid, I thought they were playing the State of Georgia until about 5 mins ago.

[tricky_colour]

Don't worry we all know Americans don't do geography!! :)

[tricky_colour]

Walters was so close to offside for the goal!!

[dr_peepee]

The RTE lads reckon we won't miss Whelan against Germany... I dunno. He left a bit of a Gap when he went off injured over there. Not sure Quinn or Hoolahan dropping in, as they suggest, would be adequate either. Would entertain Wilson coming in to the middle against Germany, to occupy that space. I'd probably even bring Meyler in for Hendrick for the Germany game if I'm honest.

[tetsujin1979]

Whelan keeps things ticking over, reminds me of Lennon at Celtic in that you don't really know what he does until he's not in the side. Having said that, McCarthy could play that role, with Hendrick playing the box to box role

[tricky_colour]

Could O'Kane come in and give the Germans a good caning?

Or is that poetic nonsense?

[dr_peepee]

I thought they weren't as bad as Ronnie and George H made out TBH. Hendricks bit of Magic aside, I still thought he was lacking something on the night. A bit timid, and second to some balls... But always showed for it which is a plus.

[Stuttgart88]

Could O'Kane come in and give the Germans a good caning?

Or is that poetic nonsense?

Joking aside I think he is the natural replacement for Whelan who I thought was super in the second half, the only player who looked like a leader of any kind. Ok, the yellow was impetuous but he did his job brilliantly. If only others did the same.

Ugly win, job done, but another game gone by that fails to give much confidence for what comes next. I'm not complaining, but not doing cartwheels either. Next...