Ireland qualify as long ball specialists

IT’S official – the Republic of Ireland are Europe’s long ball specialists.

While the boys in green are still bidding to top World Cup qualifying Group 8, they look to already have the race to see who are top of the teams taking a direct route to goal.

Performance analysis by Castrol has found that the Republic of Ireland have relied heavily on long balls in the qualifiers so far, with the second-placed side in Group 8 launching 306 long balls down the pitch so far.