Argies spoil Robbie’s party

WELL, there goes the unbeaten record at the Aviva.

What should have been a night to remember for Irish football turned out to be a night mainly to forget, as Argentina spoiled the party in what proved to be a tame enough curtain-raiser at the new stadium.

Unfortunately, the big occasion had been robbed of a few major players in the run-up to kick-off. The dug-outs played host to a brace of caretaker managers, Sergio Batista taking the place of Diego Maradona and Marco Tardelli sitting in for Giovanni Trapattoni who was, of course, confined to his hospital bed. And, on the pitch, Ireland were hamstrung by Kevin Doyle’s failure to pass a late fitness test, adding to a list of heavyweight absentees including Aiden McGeady, Liam Lawrence, Glenn Whelan and Sean St Ledger. There were also, disappointingly, a large number of empty seats in the stands as the official attendance of 45,200 for the first international at the Aviva Stadium fell well short of capacity — and, worryingly for the FAI, short even of the numbers who’d turned up to watch Manchester United in the venue’s ‘warm-up’ game.