If you decided this evening not to watch Ireland’s friendly with Iceland then we can say to you that you made the correct decision.
As football matches go, it was a bit of a snoozefest.
Ireland were lacking a cutting edge up front and failed to create many clear-cut chances.
Martin O’Neill’s side, as ever, we full of endeavour and work-ethic but that is the second game in a row where Ireland have failed to find the back of the net and this has to be a concern going forward.
A painful watch for all those in attendance and @dionfanning https://t.co/h8t4RBZiBt
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 28, 2017
With how events transpired last Friday night, Ireland will have rued the fact they didn’t take three points against Wales after they were reduced to 10 men.
So these two games have probably taken the wind out of the sails of the Irish supporters and all of a sudden, the prospect of facing Austria in the Aviva Stadium in June for the next World Cup qualifier looks that bit more daunting.
James McClean was interviewed by Eir Sport after the game and his summation of tonight’s events will not be too dissimilar to the views of the Irish footballing public.
“Yeah it was [a frustrating game to be involved in]. For one reason or another we were flat tonight, we just couldn’t get going. Credit to them, they’re not a bad side but we know we can definitely play better. Tonight we didn’t, like I said, I thought we were very flat.
“When you look at the game we didn’t really create much…So yeah, we just need to pick ourselves up and we’ll get going again.”
There were some positives, however.
Daryl Horgan, Andy Boyle, John Egan and Conor Hourihane made their international debuts which will add more depth to this Ireland team going forward and that isn’t lost on McClean.
“I think the positive tonight was that a few lads got their first taste of international football…so that’s a plus.”
A night of few positives but Ireland need to park this defeat and look forward to June.
"We were flat tonight" – James McClean wasn't too impressed with the Ireland performance tonight. #IRLICE https://t.co/S3lBhWRgS4
— eir Sport (@eirSport) March 28, 2017
