Frustrated Givens rues costly errors

AS Don Givens pointed out afterwards, the scoreboard reads badly but even so, he will be wondering this morning how Ireland did not manage to eke out a point from an entertaining opening salvo in Group Two of the European Championship qualifying campaign.

Dominating the first half yielded nothing for the home side as a fine strike from Galatasaray striker Deniz Yilmaz followed by a predatory finish from defender Emre Özkan ensured a 2-0 lead at the break before substitute Ömer Sismanoglu’s solo effort in the 91st minute added insult to injury.

“Somebody reading that scoreline will think we got a hiding but we know we didn’t,” said a crestfallen Givens afterwards. “We gave them a couple of presents. And then we missed a lot of chances.

“The positive thing to take out of it is that we created five or six chances against the top seeds, more than them as crazy as it seems but we came out of it with a 3-0 defeat. But there you go, you make the mistakes and you get your backsides smacked.

“You don’t get any points for creating chances so what can you do. You prepare everything and we were set up right.

“You can’t be angry, nobody makes mistakes or misses chances on purpose. We asked them to grab one early after half-time to get the crowd going. I think they would have trembled a little bit.

“The boys are very down obviously. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. Decent performance, we lose 3-0, maybe we should stop coming here,” he joked. “No but it reads 3-0 whatever way you spin it.”

Prior to kick-off former FAI President and Cork-born Donie O’Halloran, who died Sunday, was remembered with a moment’s applause while the Irish players also wore black armbands.

And despite what had been an impressive start by the home team, the highlight of which saw Stephen Gleeson get on the end of a good move involving Jay O’Shea and Owen Garvan, Ireland found themselves a goal down after just 13 minutes.

Captain Eddie Nolan was man of the match on Friday night but he won’t have happy memories of his first major involvement on this occasion. An innocuous ball was allowed to bounce dangerously forcing Nolan into an ill-thought out header back to his keeper Shane Redmond.

The ball dropped short and Yilmaz’s decisive finish on the half volley to the top corner had the crowd in a mixture of shock and awe.

But to Ireland’s credit, they did fight back. Alan Judge shot just wide in the 20th minute while three minutes later, Cillian Sheridan missed a great chance with a back post header from inside the six-yard box.

They would pay for that wastefulness as Turkey began to press more and more, thanks in no small part to the impressive Aydin Yilmaz’s penetrating runs and dangerous crosses.

Five minutes before the break, a Ferhat Kiraz corner was scrambled around the area and it was centre back Emre Özkan who was most alert, turning and blasting home from just eight yards.

Don Givens acted at half-time, introducing 18-year-old star James McCarthy at the break for the off-form David Meyler.

The move had the required effect initially as Ireland took it to the visiting defence but only in the 70th minute did Ireland notch arguably their best chance of the second half when a deep cross fell to the unmarked O’Shea whose right footed shot went just left of the target.

That turned out to be their final opportunity of note before the talented Turkish outfit coasted home thanks to Sismanoglu who cruised through the Irish defence to slot beneath Redmond, securing all three points and the perfect start to their Denmark 2011 attempt.

IRELAND: S Redmond (Eastwood Town); B Moloney (Nottingham Forest), E Nolan (capt, Preston), D Dennehy (Hereford), I Bermingham (Shamrock Rovers); S Gleeson (MK Dons), O Garvan (Ipswich), D Meyler (Sunderland); A Judge (Plymouth), J O’Shea (Galway), C Sheridan (Motherwell).

Subs: J McCarthy (Hamilton) for Meyler, ht; G Carey (Bohemians) for O’Shea, 73; C Fagan (Hamilton) for Judge, 81. M Spillane (Luton)..

TURKEY: V Babacan (capt, Fenerbahçe); S Kaya (Galatasaray), E Özkan (Eskisehirspor), A Demir (Excelsior), F Bikmaz (Hannover); A Yilmaz (Galatasaray), JP Karacan (Reading), S Aydog(du (Gençlerbirligi), F Kiraz (Karsiyaka); M Pektemek (Gençlerbirligi), D Yilmaz (Galatasaray).

Subs: M Ceylan (Gaziantepspor) for Aydog(du, 42; Ö Sismanoglu (St Pauli) for D Yilmaz; T Torun (Hamburg) for Kiraz, 70. C Gönen (Denizlispor).

Referee: S Todorov (Bulgaria).

Attendance: 2,514.