It wasn’t a great night but it was a win.
What could only have been a half time Martin O’Neill rollicking seemed to wake Ireland from their Thursday night coma in Dublin as they survived a couple of scares to overcome Georgia and record their first victory of the World Cup qualifying group.
It was 1-0 by the way.
The manager stuck with the 4-3-3 formation that they discovered in France for the Italy game but it was a far cry from the zip and energy that was there that night in Lille.
This is how Ireland are lining up v Georgia pic.twitter.com/t1UphG7vJ9
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 6, 2016
Instead, there was a touch of apathy around the stand and on the pitch and here’s how the players fared.
Darren Randolph 6
Collected a pass back to him nicely, booted one straight out of play. Didn’t have much to do but should thank his woodwork.
Randolph drills one straight out of play for no reason but still manages to wink, chew his gum, and make us feel like everything will be OK
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 6, 2016
Seamus Coleman 8
Got booed for a decision to boot the ball back to Randolph when it broke to him from a corner. Came out fired up after the break, barking orders, piling forward and forced the goal – the most unorthodox goal but a goal nonetheless.
Seamus Coleman doesn't miss from there pic.twitter.com/Ra2CHwtLn4
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 6, 2016
Shane Duffy 6
Didn’t have much to do.
Ciaran Clark 6
Plenty of headed clearances, tried to inject a bit of pace as Ireland were building from the back. Didn’t really succeed.
Stephen Ward 7
Neat, tidy, unfazed. Got forward to decent effect and produced the tackle of the night. Abundantly clear he is a Premier League regular now.
Jeff Hendrick 5
Ireland watched Georgia play ball too much, particularly in the first half and, even when they came into more after the break, it was based on territory.
James McCarthy 5
Didn’t do anything wrong but didn’t impose himself on the game – definitely not in an attacking sense.
Robbie Brady 6
Seemed to be the only man willing to take the ball and try to keep it as well. Didn’t create much though and took an awful bang to the head with 10 minutes to go that ended his game prematurely.
Jon Walters 6
His arse seemed to be the biggest threat to Georgia but it wasn’t used enough. Few typically nice touches and clever passes to bring midfielders into play and delivered one brilliantly for McClean in injury time.
Shane Long 5
Ran like a trooper and was snapping away at the heels of Georgians. The usual complaints are that he doesn’t get the service but should’ve scored a header from a James McClean cross in the second half.
James McClean 6
Would’ve had a hat-trick on another night. Scored an absolute bullet of a header but was offside and had one agonisingly tipped off the crossbar in injury time. Good cross for Long but full back snuffed out he was left-footed early on. Did produce a cracking effort off his right though.
James McClean spends a third of his life sleeping.
He spends the other two-thirds of it clutching the Ireland crest. pic.twitter.com/NBN8u0u5c1
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 6, 2016
Subs
Glenn Whelan 6
Just covered space really.
John O’Shea 5
Came on in injury time to replace an injury. Came on for Shane Long. Against Georgia. At home.
The GAA Hour pays tribute to the unbeatable Dubs and ask where did it all go wrong for Mayo in the All-Ireland final replay. Listen below or subscribe on iTunes.
