Brady MOTM.
Fair play Brady,he finished it well.
Yer man ebosele is the type of player we should be really trying to cultivate, youthful exuberance is the way to go!
Brady MOTM.
Great little cameo from Ebosele ….
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
Festy was robbed!Originally Posted by brine3
Great to win,unfortunately Greece look to have beaten England ….
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
It's England, joey. Go Greece! Hup Hellas!
You can't spell failure without FAI
That was my first time seeing Festy and he looks the part, both technique and intelligence but Brady was a welcome standout this evening.
Fair !!
Richard Dunne raging I’d say after the result in Finland I’d say!
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
Lucky managers, good managers or something in between. If all was equal but SK was manager Finland would have buried those 3 great 2nd half chances....sn SK would have brought on the subs with 30 seconds to go! Kelly was spot on on commentary, ye dont have to be great against such similar ranked opposition, ye know if theyre pressured they wont be playing nicely round the corner and out of a press. Just pushing up high was enough to create opportunities and some good moments of course too like the Brady free and Scales header. Would we have gone after them like that if we hadnt goe behind. Take every confidence builder we can!!
I saw this Ireland team tonight repeatedly winning the ball back in midfield and then look to get it straight to a free man in an attacking position. Very positive stuff. Give Halgrimsson credit.
Wow winning a football match. Strange feeling. What do we do now?
I only got to properly watch the second half. Looked like we were the better team in that half, albeit we got spooked in the last 15 and retreated. That's a team very low on confidence so not overly surprising. Take any win you can get, especially away.
Two good goals, especially the second. Brady's selection recently has shipped a lot of stick even though he's generally done OK and he's got something that few of his teammates have - genuine quality.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Was pure raw pace and strength before going to Italy, obviously been coached in the finer aspects of the game and now in the Championship can put the 2 together and kick on, hopefully going back to top flight in Italy in due course rather than become a nice earner for the parent club to moneybags Eglish game. I like how he played the opportunities in front of him like hitting the gap and the cross, on his weaker foot I think and the trickery and nice cutback after shows he has some vision and decent decision making too - some of the things Ogbene can really frustrate with.
Im not knocking the result at all! All credit for Halgrimsson changing up the press at HT and for the subs he made. But we got lucky too, more tongue in cheek on SK as per the subs with 30 seconds to go to change things comment.
First competitive win against anyone other than Gibraltar for over two years. We seem to have a knack in the Nations League of finding one team worse than us. Desperately needed win just in terms of squad confidence and morale, and also to put an end to the "manager under pressure" chat, which was ridiculous after two or three games.
It's only one win, but there's a viable path forward from here now - a great chance to avoid auto relegation from the group, hopefully a winnable playoff in the spring, and then something of a free hit at the world cup qualifiers after that with hopefully realistic expectations there.
That felt like progress. Rode our luck a little, but so did they (that goal from Ferguson in 1st half should have stood).
When is the last time our manager got a hold of the players at half time and we instantly looked better in 2nd half. Theres still plenty of room for improvement, but thats a football match we deserved to win and we did... feels good.
Its really not that complicated!!!
We absolutely rode our luck..
Three times we should have been 2-1 down.. Kamara especially missed a sitter..
But a poxy poxy win.. is a win
And it means if they can get a draw against Finland at home.. they'll have a decent chance of staying in B, in a relegation play off..
Won't help much for WC qualification.. but makes a huge difference for future Euro qualification
Also means we're pretty sure of a 3rd seed in the WC qualifiers
But mainly, maybe, just maybe.. we might be starting to get lucky again
The less said about the first half the better, but that’s a very welcome result, and a welcome second half performance. Perhaps the most pleasing bit aspect of it is that they had to show that bit of character to come from behind. In a game that was hanging in the balance HH was brave enough to give Ebosele the 15 minutes he’s been waiting 18 months for, and Festy rewarded him with the ball to Brady for the winner. It’s telling that neither Kenny or O’Shea managed to do that during the string of friendlies or games against part timers we’ve had in the last couple of years. If we get something in Athens on Sunday things will be looking up in a way they haven’t since the win over Scotland in 2022.
Kelleher: 7 - Did that which would have been expected of him. He’s a solid international goalkeeper at this stage and faces no realistic competition for his shirt while Bazunu is out.
O’Shea: 6 – I don’t know about him at right back. Given the Ebosele cameo we should maybe go back to a 3 and get him back in a position he looks more comfortable in.
Collins: 5 – Had another shaky moment in the second half that could have given the Finns a second. Tomorrow’s back pages would have looked very different. Luckily for him this result will live long in the memory and his performance tonight will soon be forgotten.
Scales – 8 – Solid without being spectacular at the back. There was nothing at all wrong with the pass to Collins. Took his goal well and can be very satisfied with his night’s work.
Brady – 9 – Rolled back the years tonight. Provided an assist and a took his goal well. I’ve said some critical stuff in the past fews years and happy to be proven wrong tonight.
Ogbene – 6 – Tried and tried but it just didn’t seem to want to happen for him tonight. But that happens.
Cullen – 7 – Does a lot of the work that goes unappreciated, but we always look a poorer side without him (see also Whelan, Glenn).
Knight – 6 – Played a nice ball through at one stage, but overall, I just don’t see it. To me he looks every bit of a Bristol City player, but In the absence of Smallbone there’s probably nobody better to play in his position.
Szmodics – 6 – Looked lively but there was nothing particularly good or bad that really jumps to mind. Forced Hradecky to make a save I would have expected him to make at one point.
Azaz – 6 – The only Ireland player who played better in the first half than the second. Seemed to run out of steam and it was little surprise when he was taken off.
Ferguson – 5 – It’s just not happening. Needs to get regular football, either at Brighton or elsewhere. Shouldn’t start on Sunday.
Subs
McGrath – 6 – Did nothing wrong but nothing to write home about at the same time.
Parrott – 7 – We looked far more dangerous when he came on for Ferguson. Due a start in Athens
Idah – 7 – Might have got us a third that we wouldn’t have deserved. Like Parrott we looked more dangerous once he was on the field.
Ebosele – 8 - Boom boom boom, now let me here you say Festy. FESTY!!!
I never replied to this. I was refering less to the preceeding 57 minutes than to his last 57 caps. His set pieces are brutal more often than not, but even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while, and it was a cracking ball in for the Scales goal.
Last edited by backstothewall; 10/10/2024 at 10:00 PM.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Brady was fantastic throughout. Great pace to his passes. Zippy movement. Played a leaders role tonight.
Based on the game that was played this was not a poxy win and being a 3rd seed seed for WCF draw is a plus instead of 4th seed should Ireland be relegated. We never had much of a chance to be 2nd seed as that would have meant topping the group. And Robbie Brady was deservedly man of the match
We were a better team.. but we were poxed.. they missed 3 great chances to go 2-1 up
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