Ireland v Portugal U-21s

**pineapple stu** · 07/09/2007, 7:41 PM

1-0 Portugal at half time. They're well on top, according to the radio. The four eL players are on the bench.

**pineapple stu** · 07/09/2007, 7:58 PM

2-0 Portugal on 53. Sounds like we're getting hammered.

**carloz** · 07/09/2007, 8:03 PM

No doubt Don Givens will get a wage rise and an extra 2 years on his contract after this

**pineapple stu** · 07/09/2007, 8:05 PM

He's earned it, sure.

**gally** · 07/09/2007, 9:59 PM

i noticed Garvan was quality when he came on, did not lose possession and some lovely 40 yard balls, otherwise, o'dea played well, o'halloran was terrific down the left side of defence, Clarke up front caused them a lot of problems.
unfortunately as a team they were totally outclassed...on the downside Rooney up front was pretty awful, they played 4.3.3, and should move to 4.4.2,

anyone else offering any crumbs of comfort

**alansmithccfc** · 07/09/2007, 10:16 PM

Portugal were class, much stronger, quicker, technically gifted.
Ireland were shti to be honest.
Poor atmosphere at the game aswell

**DmanDmythDledge** · 07/09/2007, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by carloz

No doubt Don Givens will get a wage rise and an extra 2 years on his contract after this

One of their players has just moved for �12m. We did well to keep the scoreline respectful.

**MojoPin** · 08/09/2007, 3:05 AM

it was 8.5 mil euro he moved for and my friends rang about tkts thursday and they were told theyb hadnt a hope in hell of getttinf tkts because it was sold out ages ago... now im sure i seen at least 3 empty seats there...(thousand)

**qwertyui** · 08/09/2007, 12:39 PM

Lads i dunno what the stats were but i felt Ireland controlled the play but had nothing to do with it when they had it. On the up side i thought we kept the ball well which we've never done before at any level. On the down side - Don Givens is manager. He's a complete muppet. It wasnt 4 3 3- Rooney was up front on his own!! 4 5 1 -And we're supposed to be the home team? The only time the team showed a bit of urgency was when the sign went up for 5 mins extra time?! They had them on the rack when they upped the pace and attaced them down the wings. Well impressed with Garvan - should of been on from the start - he packed george's suitcase for him en route to brighton! He's playin class for Ipswich. Billy Clarke was refreshing to watch. Willing to take them on all the time and put in a few nice balls but no one in there. Halloran was good too.. looks good going forward. Other than that not much to write home about. Gleeson and the right winger from Celtic looked tidy and keogh the centre half from bristol rovers was ok. O'Dea was poor and that right full was as well.

I think would of been well able to get a result if they had the right coach. Stokes and Gibson are a big loss to tho. Atmosphere terrible.

**soccerc** · 08/09/2007, 1:03 PM

Originally Posted by qwertyui

I think would of been well able to get a result if they had the right coach. Stokes and Gibson are a big loss to tho. Atmosphere terrible.

Portugal were class and tore us apart in midfield and upfront at will.

Fernandes at times was a joy to watch. He was confident to nip in and take the ball off the Ireland players' toes

Agree, the atmosphere was dreadful with the Cross less than half full.

Here are two pics:

First is Owen Garvan

http://www.moyleparkppfc.com/images/garvan.jpg

and this is Stephen Quinn who gave me his shirt after the game
http://www.moyleparkppfc.com/images/...nnportugal.jpg

**pete** · 08/09/2007, 3:22 PM

Attendances was approx 2500. Portugal were a different class & Ireland looked clueless from the bit I saw on tv.

**micls** · 08/09/2007, 4:51 PM

Originally Posted by pete

Attendances was approx 2500. Portugal were a different class & Ireland looked clueless from the bit I saw on tv.

Attendance was definitely higher than that. Wouldnt have seen it on tele but the Donie Forde was full.

Still a poor crowd though and all down to the crazy price imo

**bellavistaman** · 08/09/2007, 10:05 PM

Thought O'Halloran was class, better player than kelly IMO, thought Clarke did well down the the right, by O'Deas high standards thought he was poor, Randolph is a definite future Senior player i think, thought he looked very assured in himself. The Sammon lad from ucd who came on up front seems the type of player who will really do damage to teams in a awkward type palyer way, big and strong nd more than capable of holding onto the ball.

**Paddy Garcia** · 08/09/2007, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by bellavistaman

Thought O'Halloran was class, better player than kelly IMO, .

Agree - thought he was excellent against Germany.

**razor** · 09/09/2007, 9:35 PM

Originally Posted by bellavistaman

Thought O'Halloran was class, better player than kelly IMO,

Made a few runs in the 1st half but defensively looked shaky enough, as were the rest of the back four, tough night.
It was like men against boys, I thought Cregg was our best player in the first half and the he got dragged at half time, Garvan looked good when he came on, Quinn was very poor.
Its quite obvious Givens doesn't have a clue but who is going to sack him?