Nations League: Consistency remains elusive for Ireland despite win
Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher saves a penalty from Finland's Joel Pohjanpalo during the UEFA Nations League Group B2 match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Heimir Hallgrímsson got his result on Thursday, but he has his work cut out for him with Ireland, and not just with his publicised struggle to learn the lyrics of Amhrán na bhFiann.
A home win is not to be sniffed at ever, but the bedraggled 1-0 performance against Finland was far from convincing. Now the Irish boss and team, tomorrow night, face another uphill task against the English in Wembley. The same opposition that marked the Iceland native’s first game in charge of Ireland and a salutary 2-0 defeat back in September.
No time is a good time to face a giant of the game and that is particularly true when that giant is the old foe England and in Wembley. And the task will be no way easier when your side is struggling to find any pattern to their play. With our best hope being that England are carrying one of the longest injury lists an international side can have.
Lee Carsley remains at the helm for England, as interim manager, until Thomas Tuchel’s arrival, but his last competitive game in charge sees at least eight of his most accomplished players unavailable through injury. Notably he will be without his two goal-scorers at the Aviva back in September, with the former Irish internationals Jack Grealish and Declan Rice out injured.
Carsley will also be without Liverpool playmaker Trent Alexander Arnold and Arsenal target man Bukayo Saka. Chelsea's Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill are also ruled out, along with the long term absentees in Phil Foden and Aaron Ramsdale. Despite all those wounded soldiers, England still looked fairly comfortable with their 3-0 win over Greece.
Ireland's injury situation didn’t look as critical coming into Thursday’s game against the Finns. Hallgrímsson was without Seamus Coleman, Shane Duffy, as well as Cork's Adam Idah. Then we got the news that Robbie Brady was gone and then news that Chiedozie Ogbene ruptured his Achilles playing for Ipswich against Brentford at the weekend. Just when it was announced that the young Corkman was the FAI player of the year. His attacking instinct down the wing was a notable absence in the game against Finland.
Inconsistency in who is available was duplicated with inconsistency on the field with Hallgrímsson pointing out that while the signs of good play has increased, it has not been evenly distributed across length of the games against Finland away and Greece at home.
Again against the Finns on Thursday, we allowed a side, yet to score a point in our group and who left three key players at home in preference for their U21 aspirations, pretty much dominate possession in a very poor first half from an Irish point of view.
It always amazes that no matter how poor the opposition is, teams always seem to be able to move the ball around the field in a far more assured way than the Irish. Indeed, it could be argued that the man of the match for Ireland in the first half was the upright. Coming to our rescue on two occasions when the Finns effortlessly opened up our defence.
The Finns lacked a killer finish (pardon the pun) and it was the difference between the sides. On scraps from play and an abundance of corners, Ireland quality up front proved the difference with Sammie Szmodics planting an early warning with a goal ruled out for offside. And with players in hot form like that of the Ipswich striker and Brighton hotshot Evan Ferguson, there was always a chance, and Ferguson made the most of his chance and height when he hammered home the header beautifully teed-up by Mikey Johnston.
With the target now of avoiding being dragged into the relegation battle with Finland, Ireland spent a lot of the second half just kicking the ball as far away from Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal as possible. While the Finns looked a far better team than their low ranking would indicate. And again, but for the brilliance of Kelleher’s penalty save it could have got a whole lot dicier for Ireland late on.
So we avoided relegation from our tier for now and that was maybe the best we could have hoped for at the start of the campaign. But it would be nice to see some sign of consistency in our performance against England tomorrow, as unlikely as that may be.
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