Ireland 1-0 Slovakia Post Match Thread

**dr_peepee** · 28/03/2007, 11:05 PM

You can only beat the team your playing.... Hard to find too much fault tonight.

The Finnan O'Shea thing is puzzling. We were speculating that Carr is his first choice right full and he's trying to build consistency at the back by not unsettling the other three. Not saying it's right by any means. Just looking for reasoning.

Where's robbie gonna play?

**dodgycanadian** · 28/03/2007, 11:06 PM

topfan is right, these are matches we should have won without question to qualify. i wouldnt call the slovaks top opposition. we will see how the next away trip goes before im praising stan and the bunch of them

**geysir** · 28/03/2007, 11:07 PM

My next wish is for a second goal, ease the strain a bit.
Only had RTE�s coverage, fans sounded good and enjoying the win, it's been a long time
For me it was the centre halves, outstanding, the best performance from a pairing in ages. Midfield lost their way for long stretches again in the second half. I guess I was not alone in shouting for Hunt to come on.

**craig7042** · 28/03/2007, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by topfan

6 great points?I think we're getting a bit carried away, we beat a very poor Wales team and a built up under strenght Slovak team.The tough matches are all ahead, take San Marino out of it 7 points from five games hardley qualifcation standard.....And still playing players out of position,

worring times

get a life...this is the night that the negativity....and never ending STUPIDITY of this sort of comment died.........

The headlines on Sunday arrogantly said "Now do it against a good team Stan".

Well he did....so eat that!
you must find it hard to take eh?

**pineapple stu** · 28/03/2007, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

Only had RTE�s coverage, fans sounded good

Atmosphere was superb. Better possibly than Stuttgart and Paris and Dublin against the Czechs. Superb. Still the same few songs, but still the noise was something else.

**dr_peepee** · 28/03/2007, 11:14 PM

I still think Hunt is too over rated. Don't get me wrong, some excellent crosses tonight and he has sometihng to offer but he's not as good as some people make out.

**eirebhoy** · 28/03/2007, 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

My next wish is for a second goal, ease the strain a bit.
Only had RTE�s coverage, fans sounded good and enjoying the win, it's been a long time
For me it was the centre halves, outstanding, the best performance from a pairing in ages. Midfield lost their way for long stretches again in the second half. I guess I was not alone in shouting for Hunt to come on.

How did the reaction to Hunt come across on TV? He's a bit of a cult hero.

The atmosphere was 20 times better than Saturday. It's always a good sign when you can't hear yourself sing. It got quiet a bit but that was just because the Slovakians were dominating at that point.

The bloody mexican wavers are annoying me. Who are they? About 100 people in the Canal corner with white tops on. The game was really tense at one point and all they care about is starting a mexican wave off.

The Slovakian fans were a lot better than the Welsh which helped the atmosphere. When they sang we sang.

**Casei11** · 28/03/2007, 11:16 PM

great result and at least wer improving with every game

**DmanDmythDledge** · 28/03/2007, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

The bloody mexican wavers are annoying me. Who are they? About 100 people in the Canal corner with white tops on. The game was really tense at one point and all they care about is starting a mexican wave off.

I think it's the schoolboy section.

**tetsujin1979** · 28/03/2007, 11:25 PM

Great result, top performance.
back 5 pretty much picks itself these days
finnan was better at left full than at the weekend, o'shea was about the same
best performance by duff in a long time
i said recently the kilbane in central midfield experiment is over, but tonight proved with the right partner he can do a job there
mcgeady was poor, but gresko was stuck to him all night, improved slightly when he moved infield, and the subsitution was coming
Stephen Ireland was excellent, Vittek was stuck to him whenever Ireland had possession, otherwise he would have been all over them.
doyler, great goal, although visibly tired in the second half
the substitutions were spot on, although i was disappointed with alan quinn's input. he badly needs first team football
hunt - what a pass to long!! i don't think he'll ever start on the left wing if duff or mcgeady is fit, but he's proven himself as an impact player now
long had the 2 best chances of the game, and was unlucky not to mark his home debut with a goal

the 2 wins should ease the pressure on staunton, things will be different when the next game kicks off in september, but we're top now, so let's enjoy it

**topfan** · 28/03/2007, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by craig7042

get a life...this is the night that the negativity....and never ending STUPIDITY of this sort of comment died.........

The headlines on Sunday arrogantly said "Now do it against a good team Stan".

Well he did....so eat that!
you must find it hard to take eh?

Good Team?Maybe with Marek Mintal playing, we should be brushing teams like this to the side and going for the big teams.International football is all about good management just look at Euro 04 and Greece, Stan and Robbo good management? lol......Sad thing is there's good potential

**Billy Lord** · 28/03/2007, 11:30 PM

Good performance, but Stan's still clueless.

**dr_peepee** · 28/03/2007, 11:32 PM

I heard it was Stan that started the Wave!!!

Seriously though... The wave is annoying!!

**theworm2345** · 28/03/2007, 11:42 PM

From the short highlights I saw all I saw was Slovakia peppering the Irish goal and our one chance we seemed to get a bit lucky and score, is that accurate?

**pineapple stu** · 28/03/2007, 11:45 PM

No.

Slovakia forced two or three good saves out of Given, but we had decent chances too (McGeady skied over when he should have at least hit the target and Long headed over from ten yards). Play was about even - Ireland better in the first half and Slovakia better in the second.

**eirebhoy** · 28/03/2007, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by theworm2345

From the short highlights I saw all I saw was Slovakia peppering the Irish goal and our one chance we seemed to get a bit lucky and score, is that accurate?

Not at all. We dominated the first half. Naturally the players sat deaper in the second half and Slovakia had to come at them. We deserved the win, no doubt about it. It could and should have been 2-0 with Long's free header.

Also, Duff was free in the first half and surely would have scored if Doyle spotted him but he skied a shot instead.

We definitely didn't score against the run of play.

**delabonnuchi** · 28/03/2007, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by theworm2345

From the short highlights I saw all I saw was Slovakia peppering the Irish goal and our one chance we seemed to get a bit lucky and score, is that accurate?

Wouldn't think so. They dominated possession for most of the second half but never really penetrated. They made one great break that was cleaned up by McShane and one at the end that Given saved due to a bit of centre back confusion. Otherwise nearly everything else was pot-shots by their 11. Nothing too dangerous. Our defence looked in control all the time and we realyl should've taken our chances to get a bigger lead.

**kev mcq** · 28/03/2007, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by theworm2345

From the short highlights I saw all I saw was Slovakia peppering the Irish goal and our one chance we seemed to get a bit lucky and score, is that accurate?

Tell me you're taking the ****. How did we get lucky with the goal, it was a great header. And no, they didn't pepper our goal.

**dr_peepee** · 29/03/2007, 12:01 AM

Alan Quinn nearly gave me a sh!te hemorrhage toward the end too!!!

**soccerc** · 29/03/2007, 12:09 AM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Atmosphere was superb. Better possibly than Stuttgart and Paris and Dublin against the Czechs. Superb. Still the same few songs, but still the noise was something else.

Fair fcuks to your bohran player who either started or followed the lead of those around him.

Magic feeling in that section apart from the tossers behind me who kept prodding me to sit down. For you two*again, in section 318 row MM seats 15/16 - It's football not a fcuking day out.

* Tickets were from an LOI club allocation, yet the p ricks using them hadn't been to a live LOI game ever nor did they support the LOI - their admission