Doyle salvages late win from the wreck

Kazakhstan 1 Republic of Ireland 2

On the occasion of the 50th game of his tenure as manager of Ireland, Giovanni Trapattoni was last night within a couple of minutes of presiding over a nightmare in the making to rank way down there with Cyprus and Liechtenstein in the Irish football roll of dishonour, as Kazakhstan, the country ranked 142nd in the football world, led by a goal to nil with time running out in a disbelieving Astana Arena.

But then, in an unlikely and scarcely deserved smash and grab salvage operation which recalled the equally extraordinary end to an equally torrid night in San Marino under Steve Staunton, two of Ireland’s old guard strikers — Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle — came to the rescue to turn zero World Cup points into three.

But not even the dramatic, almost miraculous, nature of the comeback and the acquisition of a win on the road could disguise the fact that this was a night of altogether more shock than awe for Trapattoni and his team.

At the final whistle in a half-empty stadium, the 200 Green Army footsoldiers who had made the 3,000-mile journey to Astana could suddenly be heard as the locals, who’d been on the brink of claiming an historic victory, were stunned into silence.

Yet barely had Giovanni Trapattoni expressed his relief at the luck of the Irish then he appeared to be facing into another storm, this one internal, as James McClean gave vent to his frustration on Twitter.

Prior to the game, much of the focus had been on James McCarthy who was making his first competitive start as part of an orthodox middle two alongside Glenn Whelan. And the Wigan man almost made the perfect start as, with the game just four minutes old, the ball fell invitingly for him but his side-footed effort was finger-tipped to safety by the excellent Kazakhstan goalkeeper Andrey Sidelnikov.

But that was about as good as it got for McCarthy in the first half — and it was going to get a whole lot worse for Ireland before the very end. For this long haul trek the visitors reverted to a long-ball game, much as they had done in the equivalent match in Euro qualifying against Armenia in Yerevan.

But last night, Ireland struggled for most of the game to make anything of their percentage game. Especially the first-half. McCarthy must have had a crick in his neck from looking at Keiren Westwood’s kick-outs flying over his head, as the visitors sought time and time again for a Jon Walters flick-on which might put Robbie Keane through on goal.

It was relentlessly grim stuff to watch though not entirely without end-product as Ireland improvised a number of half-chances and forced a succession of corners. But though the visitors exerted the bulk of the pressure, such coherent football as there was in the game was being played mainly by Kazakhstan and then only in spasms as they counter-attacked with some fluency on the fast surface of the synthetic grass.

Still, the Irish defence remained relatively untroubled until seven minutes from the break when the roof suddenly fell in on the men in the white shirts. The goal was a self-inflicted blow from beginning to end, Stephen Ward giving away a soft free right on the sideline and then when Genrikh Schmidtgal whipped in a fine delivery from the right, no-one picked up skipper Kairat Nurdaulet who, entirely unchallenged, was able to glance his header to the net.

With the Irish reeling, the nightmare almost deepened before the visitors could seek the sanctuary of the dressing room, as Westwood saved from Ulan Konysbayer and then – although the linesman’s flag already raised for offside — Tanat Nusserbayer struck a post from the rebound.

This was now developing into a full-blown emergency for Giovanni Trapattoni and Ireland, but the response, both from the dug-out and on the pitch, was feeble after the restart. Just short of the hour mark, the manager finally turned to his bench, sending on Kevin Doyle for the largely ineffectual Simon Cox as Jon Walters moved to the right.

Again, the Irish were seeing most of the ball but when Aiden McGeady got on the end of a beautifully judged McCarthy pass, only to then let it bobble off his foot and over the endline, the sense that the night was developing into a horror show was inescapable.

Shane Long came on for Walters as the Irish mounted an increasingly desperate salvage operation, but a Glenn Whelan shot from distance was the closest they came to disturbing the excellent Sidelnikov. At the other end, Westwood had to come to the rescue after sloppy defending allowed substitute Baurzhan Jolchiyev in for a shot on goal.

Then came the denouement that broke Kazakh hearts, two minutes that turned Irish fortunes on their head. First Robbie Keane was bundled over in the box and he promptly stood up to expertly put away the spot kick. And then almost on the stroke of full-time, Kevin Doyle completed the get out of jail trick, first-timing home a volley after Stephen Ward had gently nodded a Glenn Whelan free across.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, it got better. But Germany are coming next and, against the group favourites, it’s stating the blindingly obvious to say that Ireland won’t get away with another showing as hapless as this one.

Subs for Kazakhstan: Baurzhan Jolchiyer for Tanat, Nusserbayer (69) Sergey Gridin for Ulan Konysbayer (75).

Subs for Republic of Ireland: Kevin Doyle for Simon Cox (58), Shane Long for Jon Walters (71).