Hopes dry up after a green power failure

ON and off the pitch, there was enough green power in Croke Park on Saturday night to reverse climate change. But not enough, as it turned out, to overcome a freak of nature.

Or, at least, that’s the most simplistic, not to say sympathetic, gloss to be put on a game in which familiar Irish strength could not mask familiar Irish deficiency.

While it’s tempting to nutshell the first leg of the World Cup play-off as a tale of two deflections – Patrice Evra’s intentional effort to deny Liam Lawrence and Sean St Ledger’s accidental assist for Nicolas Anelka – the real story of the game is, inevitably, more complex than that.

For maybe 20 minutes before the decisive goal, Ireland had yielded the initiative to France. And while it wasn’t as if Les Bleus were battering the home goal in that period, the mere fact that they were invited on and allowed to monopolise possession substantially increased the likelihood of a breakthrough, lucky or otherwise.

With a half an hour and more still to go, the uninitiated observer in Croker could have been forgiven for thinking that Ireland were an away team trying to hold out for a point.

So deep were they defending that they had virtually every man behind the ball with the result that the match was being played almost entirely inside their own half. You could say they were asking for trouble.

Fatigue following a prodigious first - half effort. The psychological temptation to hold out for 0-0. And clear evidence of France’s ability to go up a gear. All were factors in the balance of power tilting towards the visitors.

But there was also the underlying truth that this Irish side has everything but the guile, especially in central midfield where Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan – although monumental in their application and commitment on Saturday – are not the kind of players to put their foot on the ball, pick out a pass and help steady the nerves.

Certainly not in Giovanni Trapattoni’s system which, first and foremost, demands that they act as a protective screen for the back four. Since the gafferisimo is not for changing in that regard, arguments for a central midfield role for Andy Reid are really beside the point. But there is still a powerful case to be made for the in-form Sunderland man to be given a chance on the flanks. Liam Lawrence did well on Saturday but, at the same time, the Stoke man did nothing that Reid isn’t currently doing better.

And, at a point in the game when Ireland were really struggling to get a foothold in terms of possession, the value of Reid as a creative outlet – even if only as an option on the bench – was never more glaring than in its absence.

Which is not to pretend that the presence of one man would necessarily have changed the outcome; just to say that, as so often in the past, qualities like imagination and invention were the missing ingredients in an Irish performance which, otherwise, deserved better than a 1-0 kick in the teeth.

From the moment early on when Damien Duff, of all people, did a passable impression of The Terminator on Bacary Sagna, to the incident where a terrier-like Robbie Keane picked the pocket of Nicolas Anelka, it was clear that the Irish approach would not be lacking in the fiery passion which had so been thunderously evident in the electric Croke Park atmosphere long before kick-off.

And while the French had a monopoly both on finesse and fluency, it was Irish aggression and no-frills directness, coupled with the well-documented weakness of the visitor’s central defence, which yielded the game’s first clear-cut chance.

It was a real ‘and Lawrence must score’ moment, too, when the ball broke to the Irishman after the excellent Hugo Lloris had denied Robbie Keane. Unfortunately, Evra’s toecap of God not only denied the Stoke man a goal but, under the less than watchful eyes of the officials, even the small consolation of a corner.

Yet, it would be silly to argue that this was a night when luck simply deserted the Irish, not when Shay Given can consider himself hugely fortunate to have escaped with a dive at the feet of Evra which could, and probably should, have resulted in a spot-kick.

And, again, only the quick reactions of Given and a wild miss by Andre Gignac spared Kevin Kilbane’s blushes after a horribly under-hit backpass.

But the French, too, had reason to be grateful to their goalkeeper, with Loris bravely saving Whelan’s close-range effort and generally cutting a commanding figure in his own box every time the Irish put a decent cross into the danger zone.

If the great pity of the night was that Ireland were unable to replicate an impressive first half in the second 45, they still gave the faithful a rousing enough finish as Aiden McGeady, Leon Best and Stephen Hunt were thrown in by Trapattoni in an all-out bid to rescue the game.

Yet, the fact remains that even an equaliser at that late stage, deserved as it might have been in the overall context of the night, would not have been enough to substantially change the picture for next Wednesday’s decisive second leg.

With the French away goal already in the bag, Ireland would still have had to score in Paris. And while the flakiness of France’s central defence, which has now been stripped of Eric Abidal, gives reason to believe that the visitors can score in Stade de France, it’s so much harder to see them keeping out the home side.

Yes, the tie is still alive. And, no, the underdog tag is hardly a novelty for the boys in green.

But, as the focus now shifts to the City of Lights, arguably never before in the history of Irish football has the gap between hope and expectation been wider in the run-up to a game of such importance.

Expert view - How the analysts saw Ireland’s defeat at Croke Park

Ronnie Whelan: It could be all over now. It’s very difficult to score two and not concede in Paris and if France score in the second leg it really will be all over. The problem is that Ireland can’t play any different and there are not many changes to be made: they will still play the two defensive midfielders and look to Duff on the left to provide some spark. They also wasted a lot of energy running after the ball, which won’t help.

Emmanuel Petit: France were very solid and, from their point of view, it was a perfect result. They monopolised possession and stood up well to Ireland’s physical challenge. But they must take nothing for granted: teams play above themselves at Stade de France and this French side does not have mentality of a high level team like Italy. They must play to win in Paris.

Ray Houghton: France will be thinking they have done exactly what they wanted to do – getting an away goal and stopping Ireland from scoring. They were very compact and never looked in much trouble.