McGrath: Best performance I’ve seen from any Irish centre-half
McGrath described Dunne’s display in the 0-0 draw as “the best performance I have seen from any Irish centre-half — and that includes myself.”
Coming from McGrath, that’s high praise and Dunne’s performance was probably the finest from an Ireland centre-back since McGrath’s virtuoso display famously defied in Italy in the 1994 World Cup finals in America.
Dunne finished the game battered, bloodied and bruised but he was still a happy man yesterday after the Republic somehow escaped with a point.
Dunne and Aston Villa team-mate Shay Given were Ireland’s heroes in a game where Giovanni Trapattoni’s men were forced to dig deep.
Given made a series of stunning saves but it was Dunne who was the star of the show.
An incredible last-ditch goal-line block denied a goal-bound Igor Semshov effort before the break and Dunne also managed to get his body in the way to deny Roman Shirokov just after the interval.
Dunne suffered a facial wound after being accidently caught by the boot of Everton’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov after 76 minutes. Dunne finished the game wearing a makeshift number five shirt after being made to remove the bloodied original, with staff having to draw the number on a blank one using a marker pen.
It later emerged the official who insisted Dunne’s jersey required a number was acting outside his remit as UEFA have no issue with a player not having one in circumstances where he has to change his jersey after suffering a blood injury.
To literally add insult to injury, Dunne was booked for his part in the incident, meaning he’ll be suspended for next month’s trip to Andorra but crucially, not the final game against Armenia at the Aviva Stadium.
Dunne had feared his booking might rule him out for both games as it was his fourth of the campaign.
“A player is automatically suspended for the next competition match after two cautions in two different matches, as well as after the fourth and any subsequent caution,’’ according to the Euro-2012 disciplinary regulations.
The reference to “any subsequent caution’’ beyond four means that, if Dunne was booked against Armenia, he would miss the first leg of a play-off, should Ireland reach that stage. “We’re happy,” said Dunne. “We’ll take the bangs and knocks all the time in club games and to come here and get a point was the main thing. “Hopefully we’ve kept our chances of qualifying alive tonight.’’
Last night’s shut-out was Ireland’s seventh in succession and Dunne heaped praised on his team-mates for their efforts.
“Everyone from Kevin Doyle, Coxy (Simon Cox) and Robbie (Keane) up front tried and worked their socks off and helped us at the back,’’ Dunne told RTÉ. “We’ve gone seven games without conceding a goal. It gives us something to build on and help us hopefully in the competition.’’
Dunne conceded Russia had been the better side but said Ireland had got what they came for.
“I think the second-half was quite tough but the pitch is so fast as well you always have to be on your toes but like I said everyone from the front to the back put a job in tonight and we got the clean sheet that we came for.
“Ideally we would have liked to win against Slovakia the other night. We didn’t get it but we probably weren’t fancied to get anything here tonight so we knew the odds were against us but we knuckled down and put in a performance we can be proud of.’’
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