Eimear Ryan: There is no right way to take a free... or a penalty

The routine we are encouraged to develop around set pieces is part psychology, part prayer, part magic spell. 

TAKING AIM: Tipp's Jason Forde is usually deadly with the placed ball. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Sometimes there is nothing like the pressure of a crowd. Not even one that is baying for your blood – sometimes, it’s the supportive crowd that weighs the heaviest. The one that wants nothing more for you than to slot away that penalty. Not even for their sake, sometimes – for your own sake. Such a crowd can get behind you but it can also get on top of you, the way emotions in Irish are said to be ‘on’ a person, like a mantel or a cloak.

I’m thinking of Evan Ferguson here, a teenager somehow holding his own at the highest level of professional and international soccer. Last Saturday, the crowd at the Aviva and even the crowds in every pub and living-room in the country wanted nothing more than for him to score that spot-kick and end his goalless streak. We wanted him to succeed as much as we wanted Ireland to go one up. Conditions weren’t great and yes, Ferguson did seem to slip a bit as he was kicking the ball, but I was worried about him even before the whistle sounded.