Denmark 0 The Republic of Ireland 0.
That was the worst Ireland match since last Thursday.
Martin O’Neill’s side played out a dour, horrible, uneventful goalless draw with Denmark in their final Uefa Nations League match of the current campaign.
Regardless of the result, Ireland would be relegated from the second tier of the new competition, and Denmark would be promoted. Yet, Ireland still put in an unambitious display in an offensively-awful game.
Here’s how we rated the Ireland players:
Darren Randolph – 6
The Middlesbrough goalkeeper has been Ireland’s best player over the last year – which isn’t saying a lot. However, Randolph has been a consistent and calm presence behind the Ireland team.
He saved them with several impressive stops against Northern Ireland and was on hand to help his team again tonight. He made one smart stop in the first half and was largely untested after that.
Seamus Coleman – 4
The Ireland captain was pinned back and unable to get on the ball. Only O’Dowda (14) had fewer touches than Coleman in the first hour of the game (19).
Ahead of the match, the Everton full-back called on his teammates to be better in possession and make more angles for passes. The plea didn’t work.
Richard Keogh – 5
The Derby defender has played quite well in recent matches for Ireland. He didn’t play too bad against Denmark either, but almost gifted the home side a goal in the second half.
Nicolai Jorgensen dispossessed Keogh, who had hesitated on the ball, and was clear through on goal, only to strike the post with his shot.
Shane Duffy – 6
On his 24th cap, Duffy was probably Ireland’s best player. He marshalled the defence, made several clearances and timely blocks and generally reduced a dominant Denmark to just a couple of goal scoring chances.
Kevin Long – 5
Long returned to the team after sitting out Thursday’s goalless draw with Northern Ireland and had a solid performance defensively. He was well-protected with the blob of Irish plays camped in front of the back three.
Enda Stevens – 5
Finally given a start, the Sheffield United full-back was pinned back in his own half for the entire game. Stevens was nominally deployed as a wing-back but was part of Ireland’s back-five. He made a few clearances and blocks but was unable to replicate his club form due to Ireland’s unambitious approach.
Cyrus Christie – 4
The Fulham full-back returned to midfield and once again looked like a full-back being asked to play out of position. Because that’s exactly what he is. It’s not his fault.
Christie attempted to control a pass early in the first-half and inadvertently gifted Denmark a chance. That set the tone for his performance.
He looked extremely uncomfortable, particularly when he was tasked with attempting to pass the ball forward. Christie worked hard, but he shouldn’t have been playing in midfield and at times it felt unfair on him.
Robbie Brady – 4
Taken off just after the hour mark, Brady was rarely involved and looked lost as Ireland dropped deeper and deeper throughout the match. Never got the chance to show his ability on the ball.
Jeff Hendrick – 4
Once again, Hendrick faded from the match and had little impact on proceedings. Once or twice he pointed for others to receive the ball instead of him and he didn’t always make angles for a pass.
The ad-hoc nature of the Ireland team clearly doesn’t help Hendrick.
It is hard to tell whether it is a personal or collective failure at the heart of his underwhelming form for the team. Either way, Hendrick hasn’t played well for Ireland in quite some time.
Callum O’Dowda – 4
The Bristol City winger started again as a roving number 10 and once again he looked lost. O’Dowda dropped back into midfield when Ireland didn’t have the ball and spent most of the game shuffling up and down the pitch. He made barely any impact on the match and, again, no-one should be surprised.
O’Dowda is a talented player, but he’s not a number 10 and he needs to be deployed on the wing in his natural position. He had just nine touches of the ball in the first half.
Aiden O’Brien – 4
O’Brien scored on his debut against Poland in September and has rarely been seen in an Ireland shirt since. O’Neill recalled him for the Denmark match but the Millwall man was hardly involved.
O’Brien was completely isolated up front with his teammates incapable of getting him on the ball as they camped on their 18-yard line. Substituted off just after an hour.
Substitutions
Ronan Curtis – 4
On for the final 25 minutes, the Portsmouth forward took O’Brien’s place as the isolated forward.
Callum Robinson – 4
It was surprising not to see the Preston forward start the game. It wasn’t surprising to see him isolated and frustrated when he came on for the final 25 minutes. No impact on the match, but through no real fault of his own.
Michael Obafemi – N/A.
The 18-year-old came on for the final 10 minutes. Not on the pitch long enough to rate, but nice to see him get a run-out.
