Anyone have any news/ updates on this game ? Team lineup, any EL players start, attendance, Givens geeting any stick from the fan etc
u21 game on sky sports 3
1-1 at half time - france equalised from dubious peno. France look the better side though
Anyone have any news/ updates on this game ? Team lineup, any EL players start, attendance, Givens geeting any stick from the fan etc
1.Henderson
2.Kelly
3.Sheehan
4.Dawson
5.Fitzgerald
6.Paisley
7.Flood
8.O'Brien
9.Murphy
10.Doyle
11.McGeady
Ireland really missing Whelan and McCarthy. O'Brien is a quality player but not a holding midfielder which Givens has him playing tonight. The centre of defence is at 6's and 7's. McCarthy would usually organise it so he's missed badly. Hopefully Givens finds the faults and fixes them. Unfortunately O'Brien is all we have to play the holding role so he'll have to stick to that role and just get into better positions.
O'Donavan is on for the second-half.
It's still 1-1 but 4-1 France would be a fairer reflection at this stage.
O'Donovan has just come on (ht)
2-1 to France (according to Newtalk) with 10 mins to go.
Att - 6,100
finished 2 -1 to France, a fair result to be honest (should/could have been more). Ireland were physically weaker and mentally slower than the French who had a number of very talented players. The front two of Murphy and Doyle were feeding off scraps but looked good. Flood and McGeady dissapointing, in both theri attacking prowess and thier defensive duties.
Great atmosphere created by the fans down at Cork.
France were far superior technically and physically and Ireland went 1 up completely against the run of play, though it was a well taken goal by Murphy. Nothing dubious about the french peno it was a silly fould by kelly trying to recover from being out of position.
French winner was a quality goal scored by their 2nd half sub. The two central midfielders for France were outstanding (one played for France against us in Paris). Henderson played well in goal for us, otherwise we were disappointing the french never allowed us any time on the ball and our lack of composure showed. As a celtic man I was fairly disappointed with Mcgeadys performance, though it was reflective of the rest of the side.
O'Donovan and Doyle seemed to do a little more in the last 20 minutes or so
I thought you were off the drink Ronnie?
"No, I drink to help me mind my own business....can I get you one? (c) Ronnie Drew
O'Donovan was dangerous for City moments later but he fired well over after cutting inside. The City fans had another player to cheer when Liam Kearney made a late appearance but Ireland were already beaten and another disappointing under-21 campaign becomes just a matter of getting the games out of the way.
This is an extract from the match report from www.irishfootballonline.com.
Spot the mistake.
It certainly felt like a City match in the last 5 minutes.
^^
ha ha yeah, kearney got a great reception, and i have to say the "support your local team" chant had me laughin.
Thought roy had a good game when he came on, looked lively.. doyler didnt see much but battled away, it was a pity that Kearney only got about 5 minutes on the pitch, he should have been brought on much earlier, he would have caused problems down the left alright.
its safe to say the better team won, france looked impressive.
Whatever it was I am sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman around here?
I think they missed Whelan and Potter as the midfield got over run and out muscled too. Flood and McGeady were very poor in my view and the 2 centre halves were exposed a few times
In Trap we trust
Givens tactics were woeful. Team lacked any true central midfielders & they just seemed to resort to hoofball tactics. IMO the real problem were in midfield where Ireland were too open & the defense were always on the back foot.
Flood & McGeady were terrible & make you wonder if their reputations are false. Mansfield Towns Dawson was a spectator in central midfield & no surprise he taken off at halftime.
Henderson was good & i thought defenders did well considering lack of support from midfield. O'Donovan did well when he came on & as City fan nice to see him beat Premiership player Clichy a few times
Players looked like bunch of individuals with no plan or coordination which is Givens fault.
McGeady has probably been MOTM for the U-21's in most games he's played. He has been pretty crap since Christmas for Celtic though. A lot think its down to confidence but he's certainly gone down a notch or two in the potential-meter.Originally Posted by pete
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