The Republic of Ireland retained their place in Group B of the Nations League with a 2-1 win over Bulgaria in the play-off second leg at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday night, winning 4-2 on aggregate.
Leading 2-1 from the first leg in Plovdiv last week, the Republic fell behind to Valentin Antov’s effort at the Aviva after the Irish defence failed to clear a corner on the half-hour mark. But just as they did in Plovdiv on Thursday, the Irish team fought back and Evan Ferguson levelled with an emphatic finish in the 63rd minute having worked a one-two with Finn Azaz.
It was fortunate because at that stage of the game manager Hallgrimmson had three subs warming up and many observers reckoned that Adam Idah might have been about to to replace Ferguson just before he scored his 5th international goal.
Then in the 84th minute another sub Mark Sykes provided a superb pass for Idah, who had replaced Johnston after Ferguson scored, and the Celtic striker beat the keeper Iliev with a low left footed shot from close range. For a while in the second half it looked like we might have extra time and penalties, but in the end the attendance over just over 40,000 went home happy with what a morale-boosting win for the team and supporters alike. The Republic have now won back-to-back games for the first time since March 2023 and the victory will give the Irish team confidence before the World Cup qualifiers begin in September.
Overall, it was a deserved result after a 2-1 win in Plovdiv, last week in the first-leg where the Boys in Green won for the first time on Bulgarian soil, at the sixth attempt. The first half in Plovdiv was played at a fast pace and after going a goal down after six minutes when Marin Petkov beat Kelleher with a low drive to the corner of the net, the Irish team didn’t collapse as often happened when Stephen Kenny was manager. Finn Azaz got this first international goal after 21 minutes when he was set up by Troy Parrott. Then in the 42nd minute defender Matt Doherty, who has made a remarkable comeback,after being dropped by manager Hallgrimsson at the end of 2024, made a brilliant 40-yard run to get his head to a pass from Josh Cullen and beat the goalkeeper, who’d advanced off his line. But the second half in Plovdiv was a scrappy affair with several bookings. In total eight players were yellow-carded by the French referee, four from each team.
After the win on Sunday night manager Hallgrimmson was very happy. He said: ‘‘It seems to be some kind of a trend to concede the first goal from the first attack they got. It was obviously disappointing but good that we came back. When we conceded I thought, we were in control of the game, so it was bit of a slap and we lost that little bit of momentum when conceding the goal. But credit to the guys, they came back and played a simpler game in the second half. I think that was the key. In the first half were complicating it, taking too many touches, playing it short, too many times. But once we got into the spaces and crosses, we created more chances in the second half.’’
Irish starting XI on Sunday: Kelleher, Doherty, O’Brien, Collins, Brady, Azaz. Knight, Cullen, Johnston, Parrott, Ferguson. Subs: Manning for Brady, Idah for Johnston, Taylor for Knight, Sykes for Parrott, Dunne for Ferguson.
PORTUGAL IN
IRISH GROUP
Also on Sunday night, Portugal beat Denmark in their Nations League quarter-final where our old nemesis Ronaldo scored and also missed a penalty for Portugal. Denmark had won the first leg 1-0 in Copenhagen last week, but Portugal took the second leg 5-2 to progress to the Nations League semifinals 5-3 on aggregate after extra time to join the Republic’s World Cup qualifying group, along with Hungary and Armenia.
FRIENDLY
N.I. DRAW
Meanwhile Northern Ireland played out a 1-1 friendly draw with Switzerland on Friday night at Windsor Park with the home side’s goal Isaac Price’s first-half free-kick, a sweetly struck effort, put Michael O'Neill’s side ahead in the 16th minute, but Switzerland equalized 12 minutes later when the hosts failed to pick up Vincent Sierro from a corner.
On Friday O’Neill gave debuts to two players with Spurs’ Jamie Donley and Portsmouth’s Terry Devlin both coming on as second-half subs. As the Echo went to press on Tuesday night Northern Ireland were in Stockholm for a friendly against Sweden.
Also, England’s German-born manager Thomas Tuchel got his international career off to a good start with a 2-0 win over Albania at Wembley.
LENNON TAPPED
Dunfermline have appointed former Celtic manager Neil Lennon as their new manager on an initial short-term deal until the end of this season. The 53-year-old from Lurgan, who was supposedly in the running to replace Stephen Kenny as Irish manager last year, was appointed manager of Scottish Championship strugglers after Michael Tidser was relieved of his duties earlier last week after just 11 games in charge. Lennon, who has managed Celtic twice as well as Bolton, Hibernian and Omonia, has been out of the game since an ill-fated spell in charge of Rapid Bucharest came to an end last August.
CARSLEY ADDRESSES
ANTHEM UPROAR
Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley has addressed the uproar that surrounded his decision to not sing “God Save the King” in his time last year as England senior manager. Now back full-time in his role as England under 21 manager, Carsley spoke last week about the media firestorm that surrounded him last autumn describing it as an overreaction.
Carsley said: ‘‘Obviously it was a big thing but with the people I was talking to on the street, the coverage didn’t seem to marry up with what they were saying. I respect the anthem but stand by it. There seemed to be an overreaction. My first game, Ireland away, not ideal. It was tough, that. I respect people have their jobs to do and they are tough jobs. What I found interesting is what you read in the papers or see on television wasn’t reflected when I met people out and about.’’
KELLEHER MAY
GET GAME TIME
Caoimhin Kelleher could see more first team action with Liverpool after the club’s first choice ‘keeper Alison Becker had to go off injured while playing for Brazil in a World Cup qualifier against Colombia last week. The 32-year-old was substituted after a clash of heads with Colombian defender Davison Sanchez. Alison returned to Anfield straight away where he is undergoing further tests prior to Liverpool’s next game which is at home to Everton on April 2.
