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The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘This must be a first?' – Ireland fans puzzled by RTE's scaled back coverage for Luxembourg friendly
LUXEMBOURG vs Ireland was an instantly forgettable match with about the only standout aspect to it being RTE's scaled back coverage. There was no studio coverage before, during or after 2 In the second half Troy Parrott scored with a delicate chip but it was ruled out for offside 2 Some viewers also reported the sound was out of sync with the picture on their TVs Curran and Whelan were on commentary and also filled the half-time break by narrating 'highlights' of what chances were created by both sides. O'Donoghue was at least present in the stadium as he conducted interviews with Heimir Hallgrimsson, Player of the Match But the main talking point generated throughout the entire evening was that there were no pundits in studio talking things over. Among the tweets posted on X about the significant break from the norm, Indo Sport podcast host Joe Molloy posted: "No RTE studio panel for the match?" Read More On Irish Football The replies to his post were broadly critical of the national broadcaster. Barry fumed: "Shameful drop in standards!! Niall Bergin posited: "Surely cost-cutting from RTE but Most read in Football Finally, someone else pondered: "This must be a first?" However, others didn't think it was that egregious of a decision given last night was about as close to a meaningless international game as you're ever going to see. Inside Arsenal's Ibiza holiday as Katie McCabe and teammates pop champagne to celebrate Champions League win Mick Finn argued: "A meaningless, nothing game…lucky to have it shown." Lastly, one fan used what a dreadfully poor spectacle it was to crack an amusing gag. He quipped: "Is it possible they had one and they just all fell asleep? Understandable enough." HEIMIR HUFF Head coach Hallgrimsson The birthday boy admitted: 'Let's be honest, we're not happy with this performance. 'It's good to keep a clean sheet but we all felt that in the first half we were sloppy, the game was boring in the first half. "All the good things we did against Senegal were missing, all the quick movement, the press, the ball speed - so sloppy. 'We were so different from all the things we want to represent. We lost duels, we lost ball, our rotations were slow, our pressing was more individual than collective. 'It was not tactical, I think it was just focus. We were not doing the things we did four days ago. 'We changed in the second half, we had more tempo, and won more duels. 'But it was not good enough. We always like answers to questions and this one is a negative one, so we at least know that. His side will begin their World Cup qualification campaign with a similar double-header in September, hosting Hungary before travelling to Armenia.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Much changed Ireland slump to dour draw with Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG 0 IRELAND 0 In the city of free transport, Ireland's journey towards World Cup optimism was slowed by Luxembourg. Twice they came close to winning the stalemate by striking the woodwork – Nathan Collins in the first and substitute Jack Taylor three minutes from the end – but the hosts were probably deserving of their draw. Thankfully, it didn't cost vital dropped points and there's the consolation of knowing that the rested trio of Josh Cullen, Finn Azaz and Mikey Johnston will return for the opening September qualifiers against Hungary and Armenia. Taylor will be the player across this double-header who advanced his claims for inclusion but others can't complain if birthday boy Heimir Hallgrimsson sticks with the tried and trusted. It's almost four years since Ireland concluded a lame World Cup qualifying campaign with the solace of a 3-0 win here but none of that team were in from the start of this rematch. Hallgrimsson promised changes and giving Jake O'Brien an audition in the right-back position he's made his own at Everton was an interesting plotline for an end-of-club-season friendly. Troy Parrott and Evan Ferguson were the other newcomers of the five, along with goalkeeper Max O'Leary, who was handed his debut, and Killian Phillips in for his full debut following an impressive cameo on Friday. Sustaining the tempo from that showing against Senegal, when they came within 10 minutes of beating the 19th best team in the world, was the primary challenge for Ireland. Whereas they began brightly at home, replicating it against a side 52 places behind the Senegalese proved a struggle. Parrott was the livelier of the two forwards. Ferguson's paucity of gametime over the season, a total of three Premier League starts at two clubs, appears to have stalled his gallop, for he was off-colour. Not once in the first half did the tall striker win an aerial duel while his ground game wasn't slick either. Although there was a gradual improvement in the second half, a booking incurred while tracking back encapsulated an evening which ended by making way for Adam Idah with 15 minutes left. Robust attention by three home centre-backs was particularly meted out to Parrott. His retaliation for Seid Korac's shirt tug early on almost got him in bother but approaching the break another foul led to Ireland's only attempt at goal of the opening half. Robbie Brady's threat from set-pieces was curtailed by a calf injury which forced him off after 21 minutes but there was an able replacement in Will Smallbone. His free-kick was telegraphed to the endline where Dara O'Shea flicked his header back goal. As rehearsed, his central defensive partner Collins timed his run to connect, unfortunately nodding his effort off the upright. That aside, Ireland's attack was hampered by an absence of cohesion. A concoction of overhit passes and teammates being out of sync highlighted the difficulties in gaining consistency on the international stage. With experimentation does come the requirement for tolerance. Where the manager will be concerned was the frequency of counterattacks Ireland coughed up. The elimination of being caught on the break constitutes a hallmark of the Icelander's creed and the progress made on the front against Senegal regressed here. When Jason Knight's 35th-minute stray hook into the box was easily cleared, Luxembourg broke at pace through Aiman Dardari and it took Kasey McAteer scampering back to negate the danger by conceding a corner. Six minutes earlier, a turnover triggered their clearest opening. Ferguson's layoff to Phillips went awry when the receiver slipped, allowing Danel Sinani to advance at pace and crack a right-footer from 25 yards that O'Leary expertly tipped around the post. That was his main contribution to his clean sheet. Luxembourg did have Gerson Rodrigues leading their line, despite the continued protests over his continuity following an 18-month suspended sentence. Unlike the hostile reaction to protests at Friday's defeat to Slovenia, no banners were confiscated. The biggest of them said 'Red Card For violence against women' while his every touch was booed by the Irish travelling support. All that the striker who scored the 2021 winner in Dublin could fashion was a sole wayward shot. This wasn't a night for the forwards on either side to flourish. Eight minutes into the second half, Parrott found himself three yards out from goal when McAteer headed a delivery by Brady's replacement Ryan Manning back across goal. In keeping with the evening of imperfections, Parrott neither controlled the pass nor swept it home, enabling his shadow Korac to smother the threat. Knight's heel deflected a Laurent Jans shot out for a corner, O'Leary repelled a narrow shot from substitute Vincent Thill and Dardari rifled over but Ireland shaded the second half on the chance count metrics. Much of that stemmed from the introduction of Taylor. His surging run from midfield led to a through ball for Parrott to lob the advancing goalkeeper Tiago Pereira. Whether it was a delay in the pass or urgency of the run but the offside flag ruled the 66th minute goal out. Once Taylor's piledriver rebounded off the crossbar, Ireland were content to see it out for only their second shutout of the manager's 10-game reign. Hardly a one-way ticket to America, Mexico and Canada next year but not a setback either. This wasn't the match nor the result Ireland desired for their final friendly yet they'll take it as a pitstop. LUXEMBOURG: T Pereira; E Dzogovic, L Jans (V Thill 63), S Korac, D Carlson (L Gerson 89), F Bohnert (M Pinto 62); A Dardari, L Barreiro, D Sinani, T Moreira Cruz (E Duarte 89); G Rodrigues (E Veiga 82). IRELAND: M O'Leary; J O'Brien, N Collins, D O'Shea, R Brady (R Manning 21); J Knight (JP Finn 90), K Phillips (F Ebosele 56); K McAteer (M Doherty 76), W Smallbone (J Taylor 56), T Parrott; E Ferguson (A Idah 76). Referee: Stefan Ebner (AUT). Attendance: 6,312.
