After a phenomenal Saturday for us expectant Ireland fans, Sunday blew a little hot and cold as we watched some of Mart’s men prepare for Ireland’s Euro 2016 clash with Scotland on Friday.
Our Boys in Green were heavily represented as Everton, Stoke, Sunderland and Celtic all played.
Everton’s strong Irish contingent showed promising signs as Seamus Coleman won the penalty that allowed Leighton Baines to equalise late on. The tireless work of the Donegal man paid off and if he can win a penalty or two on Friday, we’d be mighty grateful.
James McCarthy also shone in the Toffees’ 1-1 draw with Sunderland as it was his injury-time clearance that denied Wes Brown a late winner. His defensive finesse was not the only positive to take away as he linked up play with typical aplomb throughout the 90 minutes but his fitness for Friday is questionable.
Aiden McGeady was his usual pacy self but he failed to stamp his impact on the game so let’s hope he’s saving himself for next weekend. He was substituted after 70 minutes to allow Steven Naismith to enter the fray.
Darron Gibson started on the bench for Roberto Martinez’ side but he was welcomed into the action a little sooner than expected after Gareth Barry was forced off with a serious ankle injury.
On the opposite side, John O’Shea was his usual self in that you’d barely notice he was playing (in a good way). He was reliable, thorough and made no mistakes which has been a rarity for anyone who has pulled a Sunderland jersey on over the past few weeks.
The biggest talking point came in the Spurs-Stoke game as Marc Wilson had to leave the game in the first half after sustaining a hamstring injury. He limped out of proceedings and will have caused a selection headache for O’Neill who has relied on the centre-back partnership of Wilson and John O’Shea for each of the qualifiers thus far.
Ireland’s opponents this Friday didn’t get away Scot-free either, however, as Stoke defender Phil Bardsley had to leave the game after just 10 minutes with what appeared to be a groin problem.
Jon Walters enjoyed his game much more than the unfortunate Wilson as it was his 33rd-minute goal that made all the difference as Stoke saw off Totttenham 2-1. More of that on Friday please Jon.
The last player worth talking about, or maybe not, is Anthony Stokes. The striker started for Celtic in their 2-1 win over Aberdeen but all he offered to the game was a 59th-minute booking before he was substituted late on.
So what have we learned today? Well, we’ve got an injured defender, an off-sorts winger and an ill-disciplined, misfiring striker (but Stokes will never play anyway).
