Republic of Ireland v New Zealand - Tuesday, 21st November 2023 - Friendly

[tetsujin1979]

The New Zealand squad was announced earlier this week
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[nigel-harps1954]

Ireland playing against League of Ireland players is a rare enough occurrence, but doing it twice in the space of a couple of months must be a first?

[tetsujin1979]

Seen this image on another forum, but it's not on any of the FAI's official social media accounts, so don't take it as gospel
https://mcusercontent.com/67e524e5a6ebc3f6590f643f1/images/032f3982-fa17-fab3-9f1c-258505432151.jpg

[pineapple stu]

We only had 23 players in the squad I think, so that looks the exact same as Saturday except Nathan Collins (22) drops out injured

[weldoninhio]

Can Kenny add New Zealand to his list of glorious victories??

[seanfhear]

Can Kenny add New Zealand to his list of glorious victories??
It would be nice to beat the All-Blacks again after that recent setback ! ! !

[pineapple stu]

Tut tut - New Zealand are the All Whites tonight!

(And the basketball team are the Tall Blacks. There may be more, but that's all I know)

[tetsujin1979]

Tut tut - New Zealand are the All Whites tonight!

(And the basketball team are the Tall Blacks. There may be more, but that's all I know)
You'll never forget the badminton team's nickname
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_New_Zealand

[seanfhear]

You'll never forget the badminton team's nickname
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_New_Zealand
Well blow me ! ! !

[JR89]

Kelleher

Doherty
Omobamidele
Duffy
McClean

Molumby
Knight
McGrath

Sykes
Idah
Johnston

[Diggs246]

McClean not captain? Is this petty mc petty stuff?

[Diggs246]

Maybe I'm reading.to much into it
I thought McClean was having a little go at Kenny at that last press conference

[pineapple stu]

Moran, Parrott and Travers the only three not to start between the two games I think?

Makes sense in the context of our next competitive game being nine months away. But could mean another drab disjointed performance against a weak team to conclude the Kenny era

[pineapple stu]

Pijnaker (Sligo) starts for New Zealand

Mata (Sligo till recently) on the bench

I have a bad feeling about this game

[Fixer82]

Tut tut - New Zealand are the All Whites tonight!

(And the basketball team are the Tall Blacks. There may be more, but that's all I know)

Surely their Olympic jockey team are the small blacks

[weldoninhio]

Another riveting interview from our fearless leader.

‘None of this is my fault and Netherlands are world beaters’

[pineapple stu]

We appear to be wearing our new all black away kit

That'll confuse the visitors anyway

[Calcio Jack]

McClean not captain? Is this petty mc petty stuff?

Swathes and swathes of empty seats an appropriate send off for both of them

[Fixer82]

That new kit reminds me of the GAA referees jersey from early 2000s

http://www.raheens.gaa.ie/mick-monahan?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2 F&showPrintDialog=1

[SeanDrog]

Swathes and swathes of empty seats an appropriate send off for both of them

Has it ever been so empty for an international? Thought I was seeing things.

[joey B]

Has it ever been so empty for an international? Thought I was seeing things.

I remember being at a game there against Oman years ago and I’d say there wasn’t 15k at it,looks more there tonight I’d say….

[pineapple stu]

Ireland v Brazil in 87

The start of a new era - and the Kenny one may take off today :p

Johnstone very lively but the rest is the usual stodgy stuff. Sykes not having a great game the other wing. Did Idah kick his own player to cost us a good scoring chance a few minutes back?

[joey B]

League of Ireland coming through for Stephen again there!!

[SkStu]

Houghton seemed to think that actually was a foul by Sykes but not a chance if you ask me.

Good finish by Idah.

[geysir]

I thought we might get a sighting of Terry Phelan on the wing.

[pineapple stu]

We've been pretty poor since the goal which is a worry

I think Pijnaker is complaining Sykes caught him on the backlift. He may have a point too, but he'd already gotten himself in trouble with a poor touch anyway. Gift for Idah from there

Great save from Kelleher from that curler after a quiet half up till then. Even Johnstone has gone quiet the last 20 or so - we're losing our way as we so often do

[passinginterest]

Lost all momentum after the goal for some reason. Was ok up to then. We've had at least 6 corners I think and haven't looked dangerous from them at all. Crowd probably looks worse on TV than it is. Premium levels are sparse bit rest or ground is not too bad.

[SkStu]

Yeah, I caught the touch on his backlift there on that last replay. That said, it’s exactly the type of clash anywhere else on the pitch that results in the player in possession not getting the free.

They were on top the last 15 minutes for sure. Would like to see what tweaks Kenny makes at half time. 4-2-3-1 (or attacking 4-3-3) with Sykes, Moran and Johnston behind Ferguson would be fun to see.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, I caught the touch on his backlift there on that last replay. That said, it’s exactly the type of clash anywhere else on the pitch that results in the player in possession not getting the free. .
Think that's fair. It's the kind of crap VAR and multi replays is blowing out of proportion. (Even if it would have been a blatant foul the other end!)

[joey B]

Good to get a look at Josh Cullen in the second half! Odd …..

[JR89]

Good to get a look at Josh Cullen in the second half! Odd …..

Gotta get the holding midfielder on to defend that 1-0 lead it seems.

[pineapple stu]

A goal from range?

Colour me shocked...

[SkStu]

The Cullen substitution proves a masterstroke.

[SkStu]

Greece 2-1 v France.

[zero]

being outplayed here. usual SK type performance i guess.

[joey B]

Getting well outplayed aswell,a fitting end I suppose…

[pineapple stu]

Getting well outplayed aswell,a fitting end I suppose…
By 2/11ths of the side that lost to UCD in June

[SkStu]

No easy games at international level these days lads.

[joey B]

Attendance of 26,517…..

[D24Saint]

Attendance of 26,517…..

Safe to assume the strong ST sales before the campaign helped with that many showing up tonight.

[Serb]

The caveat being that it’s a friendly, but it’s sad to see us being largely dominated in the second half by a team 50 places below us in the world rankings.

[sbgawa]

Wanted Kenny to do well but thank god its over he is potentially the worst irish manager ever.

[D24Saint]

Wanted Kenny to do well but thank god its over he is potentially the worst irish manager ever.

Even Eoin Hand got a few scalps during his tenure. Hard to call Kenny’s time as anything but an abject failure. Where we go from here ? I haven’t a clue but I’d say the FAI have even less of one.

[Philly]

Fitting end really. Feel for Kenny but it's for the best to all move on now.

Some of our players like Cullen, Molumby and Omobamidele seem to be going backwards at the moment. But I guess not much point reading into this game, and lots of time for players to kick on before the next competitive fixture.

[Exgrad]

That was absolutely dreadful. Comprehensivley outplayed second half and resorting to hoofing and booting the ball away. Couldnt play any football second half.

Can see why omobamidele isnt getting near forest team, hopefully he gets a loan in Jan.

[seanfhear]

Even Eoin Hand got a few scalps during his tenure. Hard to call Kenny’s time as anything but an abject failure. Where we go from here ? I haven’t a clue but I’d say the FAI have even less of one.Eoin Hand was a roaring success in comparison to Stephen Kenny.

Stephen Kenny has turned out to be an abject failure.

[zero]

thank god we've seen the back of kenny. a disaster. more of the same from his team tonight, utter rubbish.

[pineapple stu]

Wanted Kenny to do well but thank god its over he is potentially the worst irish manager ever.
Staunton is the only one I think can compare. Some good results but had a much stronger team to work with

Time to move on for sure though. Think Johnstone the only one to come out of that with any credit. Maybe the two keepers, which is a poor reflection on a home game with New Zealand...

[third policeman]

Contrast with Northern Ireland with a weaker and less experienced team, played with passion and cohesion to beat Denmark. This was pitiful and it should never have been allowed to go on this long, I couldn't believe Doherty saying that the players wanted Kenny to stay on. If they think that this is all they are capable of, we're in real trouble. Unless the FAI get the next appointment right we are heading into the football basement.

[zero]

Kenny has turned us from a competetive team to a bunch of no hopers. He will say otherwise but that is his legacy - one of shame.