What is the story with Stephen Kelly, plays well for clubs then all of a sudden sh!ts his togs turning out for Ireland. Is it nerves does anyone think or is he just truely brutal?
The RTE panel seemed to focus on how lucky we were to get the dodgy peno but in fairness plenty of ref's would have let Andrews goal stand and Doyler had a stone wall peno in the first half. If we went in half time at 1-1 we would have stuffed them second half.
First half was dire. Great courage in the 2nd half. We're sitting pretty now.Massive game against Bulgaria
Doyle's wasn't anything near stonewall
Himself and Duff lucky not to be booked for diving
Dreadful performance
2 thoughts
I thought Kelly got a lot of grief for the goal, it looked to me like O'Shea got sucked in and Kelly followed to cover the centre forward and once the flick on happened he was screwed, not great defending but collective responsibility.
It was never a penalty BUT a perfectly good goal ruled out which should have made it 1-1 much earlier & I think we would have cruised after that, a bit of poetic justice. Georgia were only interested in defending their lead, I think we would have battered them without the early goal, or is that blind drunk optimism :)
Seen him play numerous times for Birmingham and has been gud. Has nearly 15 caps now for Ireland and each time he needs a change of underpants at half time and full time. Mite be a bit harsh on him 2nite considering the amt of game time he has had this season. But Whelan was shocking.........Dunphy getting it spot on......gave de ball away all nite........Italy and Bulgaria will murder us if he continues to be so generous to the opposition
What a penalty:D.
Ok,you were denied a clear penalty agaist us.
Some you win,some you lose.
well done Aiden particularly the second half
On the Stephen Kelly debate, he had a pretty brutal game.
But I blame Trap for selecting him, and not Kelly himself.
The player has hardly kicked a ball this season, and it is not his fault if he is selected when he's not fully match fit.
Some might say, "if you're not match sharp, why come to the squad," but I heard plenty of criticism for Caleb Folan for not declaring himself to play in this game.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Keano = Legend
Boo Boy = Legend
it was one, maybe two people that criticised Folan.
The folly of ignoring Foley in the friendlies nearly cost us tonight.
That said, we are really sitting pretty in terms of qualification from 2nd place. England are losing to Spain. Its been a good day in general.
Just thought it is worth mentioning that if Andrews goal had stood that would have been or 2 in 2 (or less than 2) games.
A diving "header" from Keane, I have seen it all now.
The first half was unconnected stuttering football, in the end the game was a good test of character and over the 90 minutes we just about scraped a grade c.
Very pleased with McGeady's attitude to keep plugging away, take the responsibility to get the ball forward and maintain creative momentum
Kelly recovered some composure and was adequate, 10/10 for Shay, Dunne is an absolute rock, Kilbane will not shirk, sticking his head into that flying boot is typical.
It's centre midfield is the issue. Andrews did alright while Whelan was giving presents away all game. We need something more - Steven Reid would be a perfect fit.
We didn't look at all to be able to pose a threat from hard won set pieces.
Do we have to pay back that penalty award sometime or was Andrews goal good?
We will have a job on our hands to beat Bulgaria.
Would love us to get a poxy penalty against them.
First half was pretty dire, the goal was shocking and we never recovered.
In the second half I thought we were good, tempo was good, McGeady had his best night in a green shirt. Basically I think we went about a difficult task we had given ourselves pretty well. We still gave the ball away far too cheaply at times, but Trap was proved right in leaving things as they were. Unlike under previous regimes I was pretty confident that we would get back in to it. Slice of luck to get us there in the end, but after the disallowed goal in the first half and penalty not given in Montenegro, I'll take it.
Absolutely delighted for Robbie too, his celebration after the second was great, arms out just taking it all in and ending a difficult time for him.
Bring on Bulgaria.