Immense performance from Ireland the best team performance in years. Scales , Collins & O Shea were the best for me keeping Portugal at bay. Coleman and Cullen excellent too, Parrott the hero though with one great poachers goal and the 2nd a great bit of individual class
Need to back it up now in Budapest on Sunday
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That’s three red cards where players lost their heads against us.
Have we gotten really good at winding the opposition up?
The personality to the team is exactly it. Coleman at the back, Parrott up top and Cullen really stepped up in the middle. I think I’ve said that despite having 3 or 4 club captains on the pitch at times the team has looked leaderless. This was the opposite. Collins and O’Shea also showed plenty of character. That’s going to be badly needed again against Hungary. It made sense to give Troy that rest because he really does look like the key to unlocking more of the potential in that team now.
Honourable mention for Coventry coming on too. He looks a bit slow, but very disciplined and tidy. He might well start in Hungary.
You had to google some famos Portuguese didnt ypu, go on admit itOriginally Posted by SkStu
Sensational !!!!!
Shes not talking to me and its glorious
Its really not that complicated!!!
If Heimir leaves us soon at least he gave us one big night. Kenny never did that. Kerr and Stan never did that.
So it’s cause for celebration and I think he should be given more time because we’re starting to see the unity of the team now.
Maybe Yerevan was a catalyst for achieving that. Time will tell
Remember HH talked about the team needing a *******? I do wonder if they've upped their banter against the players they're marking. I'd say O'Shea is a divil for it as well. Tony asked HH about it and he waved it off...but I do wonder.
I was fuming watching Collins pawing at Ronaldo in the tunnel but maybe there was a game plan involved.
Second home qualifier I've missed since Covid.
I am not even slightly disappointed...
What's a comparable win I wonder? Germany was a bit lucky if we're honest - one of my favourite Ireland goals but we were second best against a wasteful Germany. Italy in the Euros - have to be sullied slightly by then making 8/9 changes or whatever it was. France 2009 might count if it hadn't been for extra time. And all those were 1-0 wins. Germany 1994 - is that our last two goal win against a top team? It can't be surely? Or did we beat Italy 2-0 in Belgium around 2012. Both friendlies of course
Croatia in 98 is the last time we beat a top team by 2 goals according to Kieran Cunningham on Twitter…
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
That was unreal boys and girls. I haven't been this buzzing after a match in years. Pain of Yerevan trip extinguished. Everything fell right for us but it shows what you can do in football if you get the controllables right. Shape, selection, tactics, desire, application.
In a competitive home game yep.
Interestingly, Sadlier correctly said, nobody mentioned missing Ferguson once during the game
Croatia had finished 3rd in the WC months before. Had 'seats' 4th row behind the goal, Irwin peno and Keane header, will never forget that one. Not that it matters but England lost too that day. Id rate tonight up there with that game though the levels the respective Irish sides players were playing at at club level isnt comparable.
Tbh I didnt watch the game tonight. Couldnt bar to check score and when we were in front then the old superstition side of being a football fan kicked in so Im taking full credit for tonights win by not watching!
That, erm, Lithuania win in 1997 was massive…
Me too.. though watched the last 5 mins 😬
Often overlooked as last time we won an away game against higher ranked opposition in a qualifier until beating Austria in 2016. Most people thought it was Scotland in 1987, before rankings were introduced but still regarded as a better sideThat, erm, Lithuania win in 1997 was massive…
i really don't get what you are referring to, Germany at Croke Pk were not wasteful that evening, they didn't do enough throughout that game to threaten our goal apart from one or two chances near the end when Ireland by default resorted to hold-out mood, there was no luck involved, likewise this evening Portugal did not do enough to threaten CaoimhÃn throughout the game, I think he just had to make one decent but expected save.
In a way the games are comparable in that two top teams failed to perform to their level in Dublin, failed to threaten our goal and Ireland deservedly beat both teams.
Last edited by geysir; 14/11/2025 at 12:40 AM.
I’ve calmed a bit now. Epic performance all round. I was expecting the worst before and even at h/t I thought we were set up for disappointment but we weathered the first 10 mins after and then came right back into it. Could and should have scored more.
Performances all round we fantastic. Kelleher is a top talent, makes it all look easy and his distribution was great especially in the first half. Lovely save near the end too. Coleman was the wily veteran and the heartbeat of the team. He brings the best out of the back line, true leader even if not the captain. Thought the back three were impeccable all round, finally a top performance from Collins. O’Shea got in Ronnie’s head and Jake was just calmness. He’s fit in well. Scales did a fine job, that assist was simple hit sensational; how often do you see the player try and score there or fluff the knock back but he nailed it. Midfield were good too. Best Cullen performance I can remember ably assisted by Taylor. Azaz had his best performance in green too and Ogbene looks back to his best. He really does give us a relief valve for games like this. Parrott led the line impeccably - first goal was pure striker instinct and that run and finish for the second goal was phenomenal. Knew exactly when he was doing. Thought the subs all did well apart from Festys blooper reel but it was the right change and I was calling for him to come on when he did just wasn’t really his night. But it was the teams night a real 1-11 performance where we actually deserved the win and won comfortably. Delighted for HH too and his much maligned backroom team. They get a lot of criticism, a lot of it deserved but they’ll enjoy that and they’ve earned it. I think we’d be mad not to keep him on irrespective of Sunday.
Roll on Budapest, after this you get the feeling it might well be another special night…
The hard times make these nights that bit sweeter. COYBIG!
What a night that was.
For context I was on the fence about renewing my season ticket this time. It all seemed so hopeless. My brother gave his up. Tonight was his last game. It's all seemed so hopeless recently.
One of the guys we sit with couldn't go tonight, so we both brought our kids along. My son (8) and his 2 eldest boys (10 & 8). It was my son's first Ireland game.
My eldest nephew is sitting his 1st 11+ exam on Saturday morning, and my lad has some sensory issues around loud noises, but tonight shouldn't have been a problem. The plan was they would all get a look at Ronaldo and eat some overpriced chips. Portugal would be 2 or 3 up after an hour and we would slip away with 20 minutes to go. We would be through the port tunnel and heading for the border by the time the final whistle was blown. Everyone would be in bed before midnight. No harm done.
Things did not go according to plan.
First we scored. The stadium erupted. My son, who as i said isn't much of a man for the loud noises does not like this. I hug him and cover his ear for the worst of it. He's just about settled when Azaz makes that tackle. We're outraged. That's the sort of tackle we love. "How is that a yellow ref? He got the f**king ball. It's not even a free kick"
Too much noise again. It's time to head in the the concourse for a bit of down time. As we're walking out a lovely guy from Civil Defence who's there on First Aid duty see's he's crying and asks if he had hurt himself. I say no and explain the situation and just like that we're in the First Aid station and the Civil Defence guys are showing him the equipment they have there and are generally making a fuss of him. Once it's time to let them get back to their jobs we say thank you and head back out to our seats. We sit down. I'd say we were back for maybe about 40 seconds. We score again. This time it's even louder. The son is distraught. I'm ecstatic but trying to settle him again. This is both horrendous and incredible. This really wasn't the way things were supposed to go tonight.
It was an evening I don't think either of us with ever forget. Given the goalscorer's name I'd expect every newpaper in the country will use some version of this tommorow, but it was a night when hope and history rhymed.
Football. Bloody hell.
Last edited by backstothewall; 14/11/2025 at 1:07 AM.
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