Team named

[Reddladd]

Given
Finnan McShane Josh Kilbane
Miller Carsley Reid McGeady
Keane Doyle

[Billsthoughts]

no complaints there is there?.....Givens for Ireland manager!!!!!

[tetsujin1979]

Not a bad side, Kilbane at left full can cover for McGeady's lack of defensive acumen, Miller is not a right winger, but if he stays in midfield, it'll mean Finnan can get forward to deliver crosses.

[Stuttgart88]

Ireland in predictable and normal team selection shocker!

More or less anyway. Hunt could have been in McGeady's place and maybe McGeady in Miller's.

[Wolfie]

Given
Finnan McShane Josh Kilbane
Miller Carsley Reid McGeady
Keane Doyle

That's fair enough.......erm........in fairness.

[shakermaker1982]

Hunt as impact sub and we should be ok. Miller needs to step up and demand more of the ball.

[Sligo Hornet]

Hunt as impact sub and we should be ok. Miller needs to step up and demand more of the ball.

Certainly made an impact when he came on in Prague!;)

[Dr. Ogba]

Not a bad side, Kilbane at left full can cover for McGeady's lack of defensive acumen, Miller is not a right winger, but if he stays in midfield, it'll mean Finnan can get forward to deliver crosses.

I worry for us if Kilbane is the only left full we have though....keep an eye on him on Saturday and I guarantee you that 99% of the time he'll be tucked in on top of the CB's practically playing as a third centre half, his positioning is woeful...we need a decent LB to emerge and we need it quickly (O'Halloran anyone??)


Apart from that can't complain actually!! :eek: :)

[OwlsFan]

no complaints there is there?.....Givens for Ireland manager!!!!!

:D I suppose the only query was whether Hunt would play but he was ineffective against Cyprus.

With Kilbane at left back, who's going to go for Givens' punts upfield unless we try and play from the back with McShane and O'Shea :eek:

[Morbo]

In fairness most of the team was ineffective against Cyprus, I'd still play him ahead of McGeady or Miller

[eirebhoy]

With Kilbane at left back, who's going to go for Givens' punts upfield unless we try and play from the back with McShane and O'Shea :eek:
That's a good point actually. We're going to have to keep it on the ground. The midfield is tiny.

[Fester]

How keane still gets his game is behond me.......how many sitters does he have to miss......:confused:

[reder]

How keane still gets his game is behond me.......how many sitters does he have to miss......:confused:

Nothing game tomorrow, put your mortgage on him scoring!

[Noelys Guitar]

Givens out!

[Lionel Ritchie]

That line up has a decent chance of keeping a clean sheet ...though JOS is a slight worry for me though he really only has Earnshaw to contend with. All in all I'll call a scoreless draw thus ensuring my pre-summer prediction that we'd only pick up 3 of the last 15 points on offer is destroyed by our picking a mightier 4 points from 15 on offer.

[bwagner]

Givens out!

lol fecking quality

[Fester]

Nothing game tomorrow, put your mortgage on him scoring!

Exactly a nothing games where Keane will probably score a 2 or more.....but missed as many in the games v Slovakia, Germany, Cyprus.....etc etc....

Is Long injured.....:confused:

[Stuttgart88]

suspended i think

[NeilMcD]

Where have you been, he is suspended.

[jbyrne]

Is Long injured.....:confused:

no... suspended

[NeilMcD]

The Republic of Ireland starting team to face Wales tomorrow in Cardiff (3pm) has been announced by caretaker manager Don Givens.

Ireland will conclude their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign looking to consolidate third place in the group.

Shay Given has recovered from his recent groin injury to take up his position in goal. Steve Finnan and Kevin Kilbane have been selected as the full-backs, with John O'Shea partnering Paul McShane in central-defence.

The midfield quartet will be Liam Miller, Lee Carsley, Andy Reid and Aiden McGeady while Kevin Doyle will play alongside captain Robbie Keane in attack.

Givens said today he hoped that Aiden McGeady would carry his recent form at club level into tomorrow's game.

"I watched Aiden play for Celtic against Benfica and he destroyed them from his attacking position. He's a lad with great technical ability and he's starting to apply it. Hopefully that will give him the confidence to do the same to the Welsh defenders tomorrow."

The Under-21 manager also insisted that Stephen Hunt was unlucky to miss out on a starting position but could be brought in to affect the play.

"I think that we'll be more solid with Lee Miller in one of the wide positions. I felt we could be exposed slightly if we used both Aiden and Stephen as the two wingers. That was my thinking behind that. But the option is there for Hunty to come in, if needed."

He added: "There is a lot to play for in tomorrow's game. The players are going into the game in a positive frame of mind."

Captain Robbie Keane, who has overcome a foot injury to play, said: "This game gives the players the opportunity to get some pride back in the country. We need to stand up and be counted.

"I can feel the injury a tiny bit but it won't stop me from playing. I missed the training session yesterday but I feel okay now."

The team is: Given (Newcastle United), Finnan (Liverpool), O'Shea (Manchester United), McShane (Sunderland), Kilbane (Wigan), Miller (Sunderland), Carsley (Everton), A. Reid (Charlton Athletic), McGeady (Celtic), Keane (Spurs), K. Doyle (Reading).



I hope Lee Miller does the business.

[OwlsFan]

Nothing game tomorrow, put your mortgage on him scoring!


Sigh! Apparently for Keane, he must now only score in important matches and anything else is irrelevant. So who is going to score in the other games :confused:

If Robbie never scored another goal for the rest of his life, that goal against Germany and the peno against Spain will remain with me forever. Our greatest scorer ever but apparent he must now only score against top teams, otherwise he's rubbish. Young people of Ireland, I love you :rolleyes:

[Sligo Hornet]

The Republic of Ireland starting team to face Wales tomorrow in Cardiff (3pm) has been announced by caretaker manager Don Givens.

Ireland will conclude their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign looking to consolidate third place in the group.

Shay Given has recovered from his recent groin injury to take up his position in goal. Steve Finnan and Kevin Kilbane have been selected as the full-backs, with John O'Shea partnering Paul McShane in central-defence.

The midfield quartet will be Liam Miller, Lee Carsley, Andy Reid and Aiden McGeady while Kevin Doyle will play alongside captain Robbie Keane in attack.

Givens said today he hoped that Aiden McGeady would carry his recent form at club level into tomorrow's game.

"I watched Aiden play for Celtic against Benfica and he destroyed them from his attacking position. He's a lad with great technical ability and he's starting to apply it. Hopefully that will give him the confidence to do the same to the Welsh defenders tomorrow."

The Under-21 manager also insisted that Stephen Hunt was unlucky to miss out on a starting position but could be brought in to affect the play.

"I think that we'll be more solid with Lee Miller in one of the wide positions. I felt we could be exposed slightly if we used both Aiden and Stephen as the two wingers. That was my thinking behind that. But the option is there for Hunty to come in, if needed."

He added: "There is a lot to play for in tomorrow's game. The players are going into the game in a positive frame of mind."

Captain Robbie Keane, who has overcome a foot injury to play, said: "This game gives the players the opportunity to get some pride back in the country. We need to stand up and be counted.

"I can feel the injury a tiny bit but it won't stop me from playing. I missed the training session yesterday but I feel okay now."

The team is: Given (Newcastle United), Finnan (Liverpool), O'Shea (Manchester United), McShane (Sunderland), Kilbane (Wigan), Miller (Sunderland), Carsley (Everton), A. Reid (Charlton Athletic), McGeady (Celtic), Keane (Spurs), K. Doyle (Reading).



I hope Lee Miller does the business.

What a shame our illustrious Captain didn't raise this rallying cry EARLY in the competition!:(

[Torn-Ado]

Sigh! Apparently for Keane, he must now only score in important matches and anything else is irrelevant. So who is going to score in the other games :confused:

If Robbie never scored another goal for the rest of his life, that goal against Germany and the peno against Spain will remain with me forever. Our greatest scorer ever but apparent he must now only score against top teams, otherwise he's rubbish. Young people of Ireland, I love you :rolleyes:

The vast majority of Irish fans would be content if he scored at all and not just exclusively against 'top teams'. You can look back with all the dewy eyed mysticism you want at the world cup in 2002 but it doesn't change the fact when Ireland needed him most and the heat was on in the last five years, he dissapointed.

[NeilMcD]

Not trying to defned him but just to put it in context you are saying in the last fiver years we needed him the most, why did we need him the most because we had an average team and I use the word team there as I dont think we had average players. So as a result the team was not performing it is very hard if not impossible for a player to play even better when playing upfront for an average team.

The reason he has not produced for Ireland is that he is part of the problem that the team have not been performing so therefore it makes it hard for him to perform. A vicious cirble that can only be sorted by a top class manager and players willing to learn and do whatever is necessary for the jersey.

[RogerMilla]

Not trying to defned him


A vicious cirble that can only be sorted by a top class manager and players willing to learn and do whatever is necessary for the jersey.

we need a target man !!! he loves playign off them

[Scram]

Not a bad side, Kilbane at left full can cover for McGeady's lack of defensive acumen, Miller is not a right winger, but if he stays in midfield, it'll mean Finnan can get forward to deliver crosses.

Surely any left back, as a left back, would cover for a left midfielder's lack of defensive acumen? Understand if he was playing a 4-3-2-1 with Mcgeady on the left of the 2 and you said Kilbane was on the left of the 3 to cover for McGeady's lack of defensive acumen.

Anyway, Mcgeady does do a lot of chasing back, the only problem is that a lot of the chasing back is because he left the ball behind him going forward !

[Irish_Praha]

I hope Lee Miller does the business.

---:D

[backstothewall]

Ireland in predictable and normal team selection shocker!

More or less anyway. Hunt could have been in McGeady's place and maybe McGeady in Miller's.

ditto that.

I would have liked to see Alan Lee beside Keane, as he does like a target man, but given the squad picked, i'm happy

[shakermaker1982]

on paper that team looks a lot stronger than the Welsh 11. Watch us go and get thrashed now..... :(

[Bottle of Tonic]

Well Robbies just equalised 1-1.

Nothing game though, can't read anything in to it.

[mickdlk]

The vast majority of Irish fans would be content if he scored at all and not just exclusively against 'top teams'. You can look back with all the dewy eyed mysticism you want at the world cup in 2002 but it doesn't change the fact when Ireland needed him most and the heat was on in the last five years, he dissapointed.

You talking about our top scorer EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If people would support the team instead of giving out maybe we would play better...........Look at the Scots, our team is better man by man

[mickdlk]

Keano

[tricky_colour]

Yes!!!!!! 2:1
Hunt makes immediate impact and puts Doyle in to score.

[osarusan]

If people would support the team instead of giving out maybe we would play better

How does that work?

[cavan_fan]

tempting fate i know but would this be our best competitive away win for 20 years?????

[davey]

tempting fate i know but would this be our best competitive away win for 20 years?????

I would say Georgia away in 2003 was better

[shakermaker1982]

nice one McShane, it was outside the box but how you think you can grapple with someone like that is beyond me. Can we hold on to a ******* lead???

Given 8
Finnan 6
Kilbane 5
McShane 5
O'Shea 5
Carsley 6
A Reid 7
Miller 4
McGeady 7.5
Keane 7.5
Doyle 8

Subs

Hunt 8

[Cymro]

Penalty decision was thoroughly dubious but we deserved at least a point from the game. For the first 15 minutes of the second half it was one way traffic, and your goal to make it 2-1 was against the run of play.

Given was absolutely brilliant and stopped us from scoring more, but we were crap defensively too (cough, Gabbidon) so it could have been 6-6 at the end.

One thing you can say is that it was a much better game than the one in Dublin. Both sides seemed to actually want to win instead of not losing.

[shakermaker1982]

Penalty decision was thoroughly dubious but we deserved at least a point from the game. For the first 15 minutes of the second half it was one way traffic, and your goal to make it 2-1 was against the run of play.

Given was absolutely brilliant and stopped us from scoring more, but we were crap defensively too (cough, Gabbidon) so it could have been 6-6 at the end.

One thing you can say is that it was a much better game than the one in Dublin. Both sides seemed to actually want to win instead of not losing.

Wales looked much better today than the Croke Park game. With Bellamy in the side (i.e. if fit) I think we'd have been struggling defensively - more so than we did today.

[Cymro]

Exactly. If we play like that every game, there's hope for the future. Toshack needs to get these performances out of our players every game, not just 1 game in every 3.

[cheifo]

Didnt expect anything much from this game but for what it was it was relatively entertaining.Fair play to young Welsh lads fought hard and deserved a draw.McGeady was our bright spark but its obvious new manager has a big job on his hands.I reckon that was Carsleys last game for us and I have a feeling Finnan will retire.Ho-hum what was a disasterous caimpaign.

[Maroon 7]

Story of the campaign really. Can't hold onto a lead. Wasn't a penalty but McShane should know better. Was holding onto him for dear life yards outside the box. He actually let go of him as they entered the box but he invited the ref to make some sort of decision which he duly did.

[mrtndvn]

We beat wales under Stan the man. He never should of been sacked.

[trevy]

Why were Ireland wearing those horrible jerseys instead of our traditional green? Wales were red so there was no colour clash:rolleyes:?
Not a bad game,poor defending by McShane at the end but it was a soft penalty looking at the replay.Draw probably a fair result.

[Cymro]

Anyone hear what the attendance was?

Good atmosphere at the game with constant singing from both sets of fans, but looking at it on TV I'd have said no more than about 35,000.

[Condex]

Within 5 mins of winning £50 then that spastic f*cks it up..

The defence were sh1t apart from Finnan, everyone else played well apart from
Miller who did nothing right...

[sligoman]

Don't know why Stephen Hunt didn't start. I hope our new manager realises how good he is. Makes something out of nothing and is a great asset to us. Finnan was at fault for the first goal, seemed a bit slow today for some reason, not fully focussed and McShane was an idiot with the 2nd goal, showed a bit of inexperience dragging him down but he's still a good player. Miller had a poor game and as I said, don't know why Hunt didn't start ahead of him. The whole defence was shaky overall, apart from Given who was great, as usual. Good enough performance from the front two too, although don't think Keane deserved MOTM. Still, get a good man in charge and theirs no reason why the future can't be good.

[backstothewall]

I'm not sure what more Jim Beglin would have liked Hunt to have done to be given the motm award. He single handedly reminded me of how good it can be to be an irish fan after he came on. even if it was a draw, in the last half hour being an Ireland fan was fun again.

[tetsujin1979]

Anyone hear what the attendance was?

Good atmosphere at the game with constant singing from both sets of fans, but looking at it on TV I'd have said no more than about 35,000.

Read somewhere yesterday 25,000 tickets had been sold, with 4,000 of them going to ireland fans