4 days ago
Republic of Ireland's toothless attack fires blanks as Heimir Hallgrimsson's side stumble to bore draw in Luxembourg
AND the winners from Ireland's last game before their summer holidays were the players already on their summer holidays.
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Ireland players leave the field after a scoreless draw against minnows Luxembourg
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Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson won't be happy with the end-of-season showing on his birthday
A 0-0 draw against the Grand Duchy was as good as it got, as Ireland never looked like losing and rarely looked like winning.
In truth, it was typical end of season friendly fare on the final day before everyone on the pitch goes on their summer holidays.
But it meant the real winners were those that Hallgrísson had told to go on their holidays already.
When picking his squad, he left out the majority of Championship players because their season finished five weeks ago telling them to rest up for the World Cup qualifiers.
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In fact, they told them to take a holiday this year because there would be none next year as Ireland prepared for the World Cup!
If Josh Cullen, Finn Azaz et al were watching last night in a beach bar, they will have seen that they were missed and should be back in the side for the autumn qualifiers.
This June window has seen the emergence of
That said, it was a game that Ireland could still have won.
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But a win would have just painted over the cracks that Ireland's performance was well below par - especially in the first half.
Heimir Hallgrimsson gives first call-up to four Ireland players in squad for friendlies vs Senegal and Luxembourg
During that 45 minutes, an average team - nevermind a good one - would have punished the Boys in Green.
Fortunately, Luxembourg are below average as their one win in the past 18 months proves with their team having more problems than simply getting results.
That was evident even before kick-off from the banners around the ground aimed at the local FA - FLF - and the selection of Gerson Rodrigues.
In March, he lost his appeal against a conviction for three assault and battery charges, including one on his former girlfriend.
There were banners in the stands that made the feelings of many Luxembourgers clear.
'Red card for violence against women' and'Shame on you, FLF' were hung while red cards were brandished by a small section of fans.
Rodrigues was also booed, but the majority of that came from the Ireland fans who had little to cheer from their own team.
There were five changes to the team as Max O'Leary came in for his debut and
Hallgrímsson spoke about how his side have got the 'basics' right but there were few signs of that in Luxembourg as they struggled to gain any foothold.
The warning signs were there early on as Collins hit a long diagonal that Robbie Brady could not keep in play and Dara O'Shea was cajoling his teammates to up the tempo.
By ten minutes, boss Hallgrímsson was standing on the edge of his technical area, and moved Will Smallbone more centrally after 25 minutes, as his head hardly got a kick.
The summer holidays start today but Luxembourg were often able to glide through the Ireland midfield as if they were already in flip flops.
Had Luxembourg posed a real threat, they could have punished Ireland but the positive - if we are clutching at straws - was the Boys in Green's backline did hold firm.
Debut goalkeeper O'Leary had little to do but did it well coming and making a few catches cleanly though his distribution was erratic.
In fairness to him, neither Troy Parrott nor Evan Ferguson were getting any favours from Austrian referee Stefan Ebner despite some robust Luxembourg challenges.
But the ball was not sticking to either of them and meant that the Irish backline was continually under pressure.
O'Leary had to make a decent save to turn away a Danel Sinani shot from distance after Ferguson gave the ball away and allowed the Luxembourg front man to race forward.
Early in the second half, O'Leary again did well when he denied Laurent Jans' effort from a tight angle with his legs after Parrott had lost possession in his own half.
Later, he saw a cross from Vincent Thill come back off the butt of his post.
And the second half did see Luxembourg pepper O'Leary's goal more often though, in truth, they were largely from distance where you never expected Ireland to concede.
That said, Ireland did create chances too and could have won without playing well.
Collins came close to an opening goal just before half time when he headed against the post after O'Shea had headed a deep Smallbone free kick back across goal.
Early in the second half, Friday's goal scorer McAteer showed his attacking flare with a run from inside his own half and shot that fizzed just wide.
And the winger was involved in Ireland's next decent chance when he arrived at the far post to drill Ryan Manning's left cross from the left into the six-yard box.
Unfortunately for Ireland, Parrott could not adjust his feet quick enough to turn the ball in as he was then adjusted to have handled the ball as it bounced up awkwardly.
Parrott did have the ball in the net on 67 minutes but it was rightly ruled out for offside as he made his run onto McAteer's pass too early.
And McAteer - who was moved to the left flank in the second half before going off - also flashed a shot wide as he stretched to reach a ball over the top from Jake O'Brien.
Taylor also saw a 20-yard drive cannon off the crossbar four minutes from time that could have earned the Boys in Green a win.
But Ireland are going to have to play a lot better in the autumn World Cup qualifiers.
Luxembourg 0
Ireland 0
