One man was conspicuous by his absence in Ireland's dour stalemate

The 42

a day ago

THE RESULTS OF end-of-season friendlies are often deceptive.
If Ireland had beaten Luxembourg 5-0 last night, there would be the inevitable caveat that the team 'should not get carried away' with the result.
By that logic, it is also fair to suggest people shouldn't overreact to the actual outcome — a disappointing 0-0 draw.
Certainly, the result is not genuinely comparable to the disastrous 2021 home loss to the same opposition in the Stephen Kenny era.
That defeat effectively ended Ireland's 2022 World Cup qualifying hopes after only two games.
Last night's setback will hopefully galvanise Heimir Hallgrímsson ahead of the start of the 2026 qualifiers in September.
But while its significance should not be overplayed, that does not mean the Boys in Green cannot take some invaluable lessons from this window.
Not just with Luxembourg, but in general under Kenny, the worst results and performances tended to come against sides Ireland would have been expecting to beat.
It should not be overlooked that under the Dubliner, Ireland took points off top teams like Portugal and Serbia.
They were also unlucky to suffer narrow home defeats against France and the Netherlands.
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It was the slip-ups in competitive fixtures against sides like Azerbaijan, Armenia, and even Greece that proved most damaging.
Ireland have, of course, for a long time suffered against the perceived weaker sides in international football.
But pre-Kenny, they often found a way to beat these types of teams despite invariably looking second best for significant portions of the contest.
Often, an individual player would get them out of jail — Robbie Keane did so on numerous occasions, or think of moments like Aiden McGeady's memorable brace away to Georgia in the Martin O'Neill era.
For at least five years, Ireland have sorely lacked that type of player who can produce a moment of magic to unlock a well-organised defence.
If you were to assess the starting XI versus Luxembourg last night, Kasey McAteer, Evan Ferguson or Troy Parrott could potentially be that man, but all three had off nights and cut isolated figures against the hosts, who finished the game with 58% possession and controlled proceedings for large spells.
It was a familiar failing. In recent years, Ireland have always been better at stopping a superior team from playing (e.g. Senegal) than finding a way past a limited but dogged side like Luxembourg.
But what was so encouraging about the back-to-back victories over Bulgaria in March was that a new contender emerged as the elusive difference maker that Ireland have lacked.
Finn Azaz opened the scoring in the first leg in front of 7,835 fans in Plovdiv, and also assisted in the return game at the Aviva Stadium — producing a brilliant through pass for Evan Ferguson's equaliser — which Ireland won 2-1.
A little one-two between Azaz and Ferguson, the latter finds the net for his fifth goal for Ireland.
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Bulgaria, of course, are no world-beaters — they only sit six places above Luxembourg in the latest Fifa rankings.
But the first game was still arguably Ireland's most significant away victory since the 2017 upset against Wales in Cardiff.
Azaz's presence on the pitch that night was not coincidental, and the Middlesbrough star's record in the Championship in the 2024-25 campaign suggests the performance was no fluke — only two players in England's second tier (Leeds' Joël Piroe and Burnley's Josh Brownhill) had more goal involvements than the Irish international's 21.
Former Aston Villa youngster Azaz, who has been linked with a Premier League move in recent weeks, is still relatively young at 24 and has only won seven caps, and just four of these were starts — he also played from the outset in the one other away win of the Hallgrímsson era, as Ireland beat Finland 2-1 in Helsinki.
At home to Senegal, the lack of Azaz's creativity was less noticeable, as that game was more about energy, pressing and keeping a stronger side at bay.
Yet on these difficult away trips, a different type of game is needed, with technically adept players like Azaz more suited to the slower pace and better equipped to hurt teams who get bodies forward on the counter-attack.
It is hard to think of anyone in the Irish squad better at making the right decision in tight spaces in the final third.
By contrast, on Tuesday evening, the visitors' only real opening in the first half was Nathan Collins' header off a set piece, while they managed a handful of half-chances in the second period as Luxembourg threw bodies forward in search of a winner.
But on the whole, Hallgrímsson was right to express unhappiness with the display.
Ireland have made slight improvements under the Icelandic coach but should be expected to beat a side 31 places below them in the Fifa rankings, regardless of all the excuses such as players being exhausted amid the culmination of an unforgiving season.
Even if it was only a friendly, last night's game emphasised how the squad still lacks the depth and quality to cope without players of Azaz's rare skillset.