Ireland on back foot after Maloney magic

EURO 2016 GROUP D QUALIFIER:

A splendid second-half goal from Wigan’s Shaun Maloney was enough to blow the qualification group wide open and provide revenge for Scotland – after a wait of just 27 years – with a result that was a reversal of the one-nil win Ireland had inflicted here on the road to Euro 88.

But after this at times desperately poor Irish display, enlivened only by a more spirited showing in the second-half, hopes for qualification for France 2016, so high after the heroics in Gelsenkirchen, must now go back into cold storage.