Things didn’t go well for Ireland against Wales.
The build-up to our Nations League opener with Wales was ominous. What unfolded was the stuff of nightmares.
The boys in white and green were well defeated by a young Wales team. They were overran and outplayed in midfield, shaky at the back and absolutely listless in attack.
The build-up to this game wasn’t smooth although a good performance in Cardiff would have masked all of that. What transpired was the opposite.
Frustrations, inevitably, boil over when things are going bad and Sky Sports analyst Phil Babb claimed two Irish players had an argument at half-time of the game.
At full time, during his analysis of the match with host Scott Minto and former Welsh player James Collins, Babb highlighted an incident that summed up Ireland’s grim situation at the moment.
The former Liverpool defender spotted this all boiling over at half-time with Ireland’s central defensive pairing Ciaran Clark and Shane Duffy ‘sharing strong words’ as they headed for the tunnel at half-time.
“Clark and Duffy looked to be having a bit of an argument…sharing some strong words as they were headed for the tunnel.”
It was understandable that these two players were frustrated. Ireland’s defence were under siege from early on and they struggled to cope with Wales’ firepower.