Irish manager Stephen Kenny secured a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Gibraltar in Faro on Monday night to give our Euro play-off hopes a boost in a roundabout way, after a disappointing home defeat to Greece on Friday night.
Two first half goals from Evan Ferguson and Mikey Johnston gave The Republic a comfortable 2-0 lead at half-time and then MattDoherty and substitute Callum Robinson doubled the margin in the second half. We have one more qualifier to play, against The Netherlands in Amsterdam on Nov.18. It's no joke, but the way the play-off places from the Nations League are shaping up it looks very much like it would be to our advantage to lose that game in Amsterdam. Hard to comprehend, but a loss to The Netherlands would free up a spot for The Republic in the play-offs.
When Stephen Kenny took over as Irish manager in 2020 he tried to get the players to play attractive football, playing out from the back, instead of playing long balls. It worked for a while, but the results were poor and we suffered some embarrassing results, like losing at home to Luxembourg. It took Kenny 12 games to secure a win; that came against lowly Andorra in June 2021. There is no doubt Kenny’s team have produced some good performances, but not results against highly ranked countries like Portugal, France and The Netherlands. But it’s against the low and mid-ranked countries that we have really failed under Kenny. After a good performance against France at the Aviva in our opening game of Euro 2024 back in March, when the team travelled to Athens in June we expected to get at least a draw against Greece, we lost 2-1. After good performances, but no points won against France and The Netherlands in September, supporters were expecting a win over Greece at the Aviva last Friday, we lost 2-0. I know Stephen and he is a decent man, but it saddens me to say that at this stage he does seem to be out of his depth. His friends rightly point out that we only have “Championship type players” to call on and that he has introduced 20 new players in his 37 games in charge, but football is a results business and now it’s just sad to see Stephen as he tries to focus on the positives from what yet another poor performance.
We started well on Friday and Will Smallbone and Evan Ferguson went close to open the scoring. However, it was Greece who took the lead on 20 minutes when the Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimkas, won a duel with Ogbene on the left and whipped in a great cross that found the head of Alanta United striker Giakoumakis, who got in between Nathan Collins and debutant Liam Scales to beat Bazunu with a powerful header. Ireland’s best chance in the first half fell to Jason Knight, but his first touch was poor and the opportunity was wasted. The second Greek goal on the stroke of half-time really killed the game. It came after a long ball was picked up by Giakoumakis on the left, he overhit his cross, but it was pulled back by Pelkas and there was the unmarked Masouras to shoot low past Bazunu. Collins was replaced at half-time with Ryan Manning coming in at left back and Scales moving in alongside Duffy in the centre of the back four. The second half was a drab affair and it wasn’t until the introduction of Calum Robinson and Mikey Johnston that we looked like scoring. Many of the 41,000 attendance left early and there were boos from a section of those that stayed to the end.
Greek manager Gus Poyet said he surprised by Ireland’s system on Friday, but not by the outcome. Poyet said: “We were a little bit surprised by the system. When we found out it was a four at the back there were some differences. But it doesn’t matter the system, it’s about the way we play. It was as we predicted. very intense at the beginning. We needed to get through the first minutes and then play. But 100 per cent the key of the game, it was the second goal. That gave us a little bit of a platform, to be a little bit more settled and then try to be strong enough. We needed one or two saves from the goalkeeper but, in my opinion, we deserved to win the game.’’
Chiedozie Ogbene, who was named Irish Man of the Match by RTE analyst Ronnie Whelan, said: “I feel sorry for our manager. We were not sharp in our decision making and overall the result is disappointing. Goals change games and we certainly feel we created enough chances. I feel I could have done more to stop their player getting past me before he got the cross in, from which they scored their first goal. I need to look back on it again. I wish I had have stopped him because the game was scoreless at that stage and if I had have stopped him getting the cross in, then they wouldn’t have scored.’’
Team: Bazunu, Doherty, Duffy, Collins, Scales, Ogbene, Cullen, Browne, Smallbone, Knight, Ferguson. Subs: Manning for Collins, Johnston for Browne, Robison for Smallbone, Idah for Ogbene.
N.I. WIN
Meanwhile Northern Ireland brought a run of five straight Euro 2024 qualifier defeats to an end thanks to a comfortable 3-0 victory over San Marino in Belfast. The hosts made a blistering start with Paul Smyth volleying in the opener after five minutes, before Josh Magennis hit the bottom corner on 11 minutes. Conor McMenamin slotted home his first international goal in the 81st minute to seal the win. It completed a Group H double over the minnows.
MCCORMACK TO BE
1ST FEMALE CEO
A Canadian investment firm is set to take joint control of League of Ireland First Division club Treaty United. Tricor Pacific Capital will invest a significant sum in both the men’s and women’s sections after more than nine months of discussions. Former Republic of Ireland international and current Treaty player Ciara McCormack is understood to be co-owner and will move into the boardroom to become the first female CEO in the League of Ireland. McCormack is a native of Vancouver and qualified for Ireland through her parents. Tricor is a Vancouver-based fund that is the majority owner of more than 80 private companies within manufacturing, distribution, food, transportation services, industrial and real estate sectors. They are also understood to have interests in Rugby League in England.
Also the Board of Drogheda United has provisionally accepted an offer from Trivela Group, a US sports investment firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, to acquire 100 per cent of the Boyneside club. Trivela Group was founded in 2021.
ROONEY APPOINTED
BIRMINGHAM BOSS
Wayne Rooney was last week confirmed as Birmingham City’s new manager on a three-and-a-half year deal. He replaces John Eustace, having left MLS club DC United a week earlier. His first game in charge of The Blues will be away to Middlesbrough on Saturday next. Rooney will have England under 21 coach Ashely Cole as well as his former Manchester United teammate John O’Shea in his backroom team. Cole will remain part of Lee Carsley’s England under 21, while O’Shea will continue in Stephen Kenny’s Irish coaching staff.
REDS STAND DELAYED
Liverpool has been dealt another setback in the redevelopment of the Anfield Road stand after it was announced the upper tier will not open until next year. The £80m project to expand Anfield’s capacity to 61,000 has been beset by problems, with the scheduled opening for the first home game of the season delayed and then the main contractor, Buckingham Group, going into administration. The company employed more than 600 staff. Buckingham’s replacement, Rayner Rowen Construction, started work on Sept. 5 after a three-week pause in the build and Liverpool had hoped the Anfield Road stand would be completed by October. Tickets for the upper tier had been sold for the visit of Everton on Saturday next and for future matches. However, the upper tier will remain closed until 2024 and there is no revised date on when it will open.
BOHEMIANS, SHELS
IN EURO BATTLE
North Dublin rivals Bohemians and Shelbourne seem to be having their own private battle to see who will secure the 4th European qualifying place for next season. In a re-arranged game against UCD in midweek, Bohs won 2-0 at Belfield to leapfrog Shelbourne back into 4th place in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Meanwhile Peamount United were crowned Women’s Premier Division champion on Saturday after a 2-0 win over Wexford Youths at Ferrycarrig Park. The West Dublin club will get to lift the trophy after their final League game, at home to Sligo Rovers on Nov. 11. Peamount manager James O’Callaghan becomes the first manager in the Women’s League to lead a team to three League titles: 2019, 2020 and 2023.
MCCABE ON TARGET
Ireland captain Katie McCabe got her first goal of the season as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 2-1 at The Emirates on Sunday. Villa took the lead in the 25th minutes and The Gunners were heading for their second successive home loss before Katie McCabe fired into the roof of the net in the 92nd minute to set up the incredible finish. Then England forward Beth Mead, playing her first game for 11 months after a serious knee injury, helped them to a dramatic win. Mead, who was introduced in the 88th minute set up the winning goal, scored by her England team-mate Alessia Russo in the 4th minute of injury time to spark scenes of celebration for the majority of a crowd of over 35,000 fans in North London. Meanwhile Ireland’s American-born goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan kept a clean sheet as Everton beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Merseyside Derby at Anfield, where the attendance was just over 23,000.
