Ireland Ratings

Given - 7 Solid. Nearly caught out once, though.
O'Shea - 7 One of his better outings of late.
Cunningham - 9 A rock at that back when under pressure.
Doherty - 8 Good performance from the big man.
Harte - 6 Looked dodgy at times. Nothing inspirational.
S Reid - 4 Gave the ball away every time he got it. Shocker.
Kinsella - 7 Worked well in the middle. Good holding job.
Miller - 7.5 Took a while to get into it but adjusted and passed well.
A Reid - 8 Our only threat. Worked hard.
Lee - 5 Was always going to hard but couldn't hold the ball up.
Morrision 5.5 Slightly better than Lee.

Subs
Maybury - 2 Completely out of his depth. Gave the ball away three times in dangerous positions and rightfully picked up a yellow card.
Barrett - 6 Lively and looking to get involved.
Colgan - 7 Did put a foot wrong. Good catch from a cross. But he wasn't tested by a shot in anger.

The rest weren't on long enough to rate.

Good defensive performance (bar Maybury's disaster). Never threatened attacking wise. Good result considering the amount of withdrawals and inexperienced players in the side.

Fair play to Poles for their display of the flag and respect of the anthem. Nice to see.

Also fair play to Byrne and Douglas on their debuts.

If Reid isn't up to it suggest we try Finnan in midfield.

Since the other fella came back we could put 5 in midfield, maybe give Duff a free role behind Robbie. I don't know if Morrisson will ever deliver could be another Connolly :(

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Originally Posted by Declan_Michael

maybe give Duff a free role behind Robbie.

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I don't think that would work. Duff has been tried in the free role with near disastrous results (Albania at home!). I think Duff needs to be on the wing and running one on one at defenders.

Just back in town after the game.

I thought O'Shea & Cunningham did well.

Not sure that Reid was that impressive can't seem to go past
a man, thats not great for a winger.

Miller played well, and Maybury should stay in Scotland

I thought S.Reid played well, he was one of our most lively players. O'Shea had his best game for Ireland IMO, nothing special but he is usually below average for Ireland. He's only 22 and with our very inexperience lineup he looked really experienced and showed a few skills.

Am I the only one that noticed, all our central midfielders in recent games, with the exception Kilbane are getting there job done but aren't getting enough of the ball and don't have too much of an impact. They don't let much by them but don't create much. Hopefully Keane will sort that out.

Good result since we were missing 16 players. Thats 8 clean sheets and 15 matches unbeaten from the last 16. The one defeat was without Cunningham :)

Given 6 had nearly nothing to do but didn't feel confident when he was called on, a rough pitch probably contributed

O'Shea 5 Looked better on the left, obviously more comfortable there, but his distribution was awful
Doherty 8 Poland played to his strengths, but the did everything asked of him for the second game in a row, regular football at spurs is standing to him
Cunningham 8 did very well, reads the game so well he made every tackle and interception look easy
Harte 6 did ok, but looked like he switched off before he was subbed, nearly cost a goal

S Reid 6 Looked rusty, but I saw glimpses of speed and strength that suggest he'll be our man on the right for the qualifiers if he stays fit
Miller 6 Not impressed, did nothing for the first hour, showed some nice touches later when he settled, but was rusty in the same way stevie reid was
Kinsella 9 MOTM, showed the value of experience, was tigerish and layed the ball off well, carried what was an inexperienced midfield around him
A Reid 8 His best game for Ireland, took players on and got into the box, looked threatening and showed some nice touches

Lee 6 hard to judge when he got no protection from the ref, hope he gets another shot soon, looked off the pace
Morrison 6 showed some good touches but had to come deep for the ball, no shot in ninety minutes isn't on for a striker

Barrett 7 grabbed his chance after a late call-up, looked lively and wellk worth another look
Maybury 3 woeful, never got to the pace of a slow game, absolutely lost
Colgan ? Only had to pluck down a single cross, but did it, had very little to do

Douglas and Byrne not on long enough, which was a waste of a chance to look at two more players

Poland 0-0 Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland's Gary Doherty

Good performances by Liam Miller and Andy Reid were the main plus points for Republic fans from a drab friendly.

Shelbourne striker Jason Byrne came on for his debut but did not get a touch but it was a match of little goalmouth incident at either end of the pitch.

Sebastian Mila had the game's first chance for Poland on 38 minutes but his shot lacked pace and it was an easy save for Shay Given.

Miller had a second half chance but snatched at it and put it over the bar.

This match had as much appeal to English football fans as the Irish with Poland in the same World Cup qualifying group as Sven-Goran Eriksson's men.

However, it will be the Republic who will take more pleasure from the result and a useful workout for some of fringe players.

The Republic were content to soak up the pressure without being really threatened by an untested Polish attack.

The Irish never panicked although they were sometimes put under pressure with debutant Alan Lee and Clinton Morrison living off scraps and unable to hold onto the ball up front when it eventually arrived.


Shay Given had to make his first save after 38 minutes, but it was a comfortable catch as Sebastian Mila's 25-yard drive lacked any real pace.

Lee, though, had the Republic's only chance of the otherwise uneventful opening 45 minutes when his overhead kick saw Jerzy Dudek scramble across the goal only to watch the ball drift wide.

Reid had another chance for the Republic just after the resumption but his shot from the edge of the box flew well over the bar.

Given had a nervous moment when he failed to control a back pass, but substitute Andrzei Niedzielan failed to take his chance as the ball ballooned off his legs and behind.

Manchester United-bound Liam Miller, making an impressive first international start, was unfortunate to see a snap shot just rise over the bar in the 53rd minute.

A pretty uninspired performance by all accounts From TM


Republic were nearly caught out on the hour when substitute Alan Maybury brought down Kosowski wide on the left for which he received a yellow card.

Kosowski drilled the ball just outside the box and Tomasz Hajto fired in a dipping volley just over the bar.

There was little more action as the Republic easily held on for the third successive draw against Poland.

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Originally Posted by tiktok

Douglas and Byrne not on long enough, which was a waste of a chance to look at two more players

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Feck substitutions. We have 5 more friendlies, I'd prefer to see player make their debut with 70-90 minutes on the pitch rather than 5 Sven Goran Erikson style matches.

BTW - Romania beat Germany 5-1 without a few of their main players. Israel drew 1-1 against Moldova and Switzerland are currently getting beaten 0-1 against Slovenia with 40 minutes to play. 3 results I'm happy with. We'll have a tough task against Romania and the teams in our group aren't getting great results recently.

I ddin't think Barrett played well at all. He constantly gave the ball away and didn't really do anything. Maybury was an embarassment, we've finally found a worse fullback than Harte, and he can't even take frees!

Given didn't have anything to do

Harte played alright, one good free O'Shea should have converted
Cunningham and Doherty were solid
O'Shea was good at times but wasted possesion a bit too

Andy Reid was class. Took people on, passed the ball and worked very hard.
Steven Reid was poor for most of the game, looking like he lacked match fitness, but also showed some good flashes.
Kinsella was alright. Some good passing, but bypassed alot aswell. While he played well, he's not upto starting for us.
Miller was good on the ball, but bypassed for most of the match. Overall disappointing.

Morrison was alright, held up the ball better than Lee and linked up with others, but also gave the ball away alot. The service upto the front two was appaling.
Alan Lee was very poor, but again the service was awful. However, for a target man his knock ons were poor and he wasn't capable of holding the ball up and linking play at all.

Maybury was a disaster, nowhere near upto it at this level. Barrett tried hard but isn't upto it imo. Colgan had one good catch and that was all he had to do. Douglas barley touched the ball and the token four minutes given to Byrne were hardly enough to rate him, though he should have been through on goal only he was called back for a throw in to Poland when it looked to me that the ball was kept in.

The pitch was woeful, which didn't help the classier players at all. International football shouldn't be let on a pitch like that. Kerr waited too long for the changes.

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Originally Posted by tiktok

Kinsella 9 MOTM, showed the value of experience, was tigerish and layed the ball off well, carried what was an inexperienced midfield around him.........
Barrett 7 grabbed his chance after a late call-up, looked lively and wellk worth another look

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Overall happy with the game.
Agree Kinsella proving he is still worth a squad place and Barrett did more in what 20mins than the other two showed all game.Very lively,wanted the ball,wanted to run at players.Thought Miller was impressive too.Never lost the ball,showed nice touches and put in a number of important interception/tackles.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Switzerland are currently getting beaten 0-1 against Slovenia with 40 minutes to play.

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They came back to win it 2-1. Guess who was the inspiration... Hakin Yakin. He set up the first and scored the winner with 6 minutes to go.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Thats 8 clean sheets and 15 matches unbeaten from the last 16. The one defeat was without Cunningham :)

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Unfortunatley of those 16 games the 2 most important were a very dour 0-0 draw at home to Russia, and a shoker away to Switz. I hope Kerr suceeds but these results are meaningless. I want to see this team perform under pressure.

Thought Kinsella was excellent and was also impressed by Cunningham and the Doc. Think Andy Reid still looks a yard off the pace at international level. Seen him with Forest and he just ghosts past players. Dispossessed a little too easy yesterday. Year in the premiership will hopefully sort that. Steven Reid played alright considering his lack of match practice. Maybury was awful. Should be his last cap as Carr and Finnan will be back as well as Stephen Kelly developing. Rest of the team were average. Difficult game to judge forwards as they didn't get much to feed off. Don't know what was learned by bringing on Barrett early instead of Byrne. Yeah, he looked lively but he has struggled to get into Coventry's squad this season let alone their first team.

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Originally Posted by 1MickCollins

Unfortunatley of those 16 games the 2 most important were a very dour 0-0 draw at home to Russia, and a shoker away to Switz. I hope Kerr suceeds but these results are meaningless. I want to see this team perform under pressure.

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1-1 with Russia.;) And if you want a game under pressure, play N.Ireland at Windsor park. Anyone see the highlights last night? The best N.Ireland performance in years and deserved to win.