VIDEO: England game best forgotten, now for a tilt at Scotland
The bad news: so did the football.
But, for once, we won’t quibble too much about that. The lunchtime kick-off time, combined with mild temperatures and mainly blue skies, created an atmosphere sleepy enough to suck any possible tension from the occasion, turning the event into something like a cross between a matinee performance and a summer barbecue. And no-one was ever about to lose sight of the fact that both these teams have bigger fish to fry next weekend.
And if this was a game between the old rivals which is destined not to live long in the memory of the less than capacity crowd of 43,486 who were present, well, considering what happened the last time the two tribes clashed on the banks of the Dodder, that’s probably no bad thing either.
In truth, the only real highlight of a decidedly flat and somnambulant afternoon was the pre-match appearance on the pitch of Jack Charlton, the man who was managing Ireland on that blackest of nights back in 1995.
Be-suited, be-capped and visibly moved, the sight of the now 80-year old Charlton prompted a brief but uplifting return to the happier, headier days of his reign, as the home supporters accorded him – and themselves – perhaps one last rousing reprise of “We’re all part of Jackie’s army, we’re all going to Italy.”
Both England and Ireland supporters rise as one as Jack Charlton is presented to the fans on the Aviva Stadium pitch. pic.twitter.com/QlFCfgxaHt
— breakingnews.ie (@breakingnewsie) June 7, 2015
Wiping tears from his eyes, the great man then took his place in the stands beside another beloved hero of that era, Paul McGrath.
A section of the Irish support then turned from saluting an Englishman to booing and whistling ‘God Save The Queen’ but, from the rest of the home fans in the stadium, there was a solid wave of respectful applause at the anthem’s end.
The English supporters, like all away fans in the new Aviva, were allocated the low-rise Havelock Square end in contrast to 20 years ago when they had ill-advisedly been afforded the higher ground of the old West Stand. This time, their most notable contribution to proceedings was a rousing rendition of a new ditty:
“He paid for your ground, he paid for your ground, Sepp Blatter, he paid for your ground.”
And the Irish fans, for once, appeared to be singing off much the same hymn sheet as their English counterparts, favouring repeat renditions of an unflattering ode to FAI boss John Delaney, though their attempts to raise a protest banner were stymied by steward. And so to the football – not that this should detain us long.
Martin O’Neill’s selection leavened the tried and trusted with a few fresher faces, the Ipswich duo of Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick getting a start while Jeff Hendrick also came in and Robbie Brady was given another chance to nail down the left-back position which he has recently claimed from Stephen Ward. And on the basis of another purposeful showing by the Hull man, he is likely to retain his place against Scotland on Saturday.
While it quickly became apparent that McGoldrick was lacking match sharpness, it was one of the older boys, Aiden McGeady, who looked well up for the game from the first whistle, as Ireland began on the front foot, winning a couple of early corners and forcing England to endure some nervy goalmouth scrambles.
Unfortunately, after that relatively bright start, the home side quickly fell into the bad old habit of cheaply surrendering possession, a succession of long, wayward balls from the back simply inviting England on.
While Glenn Whelan was snuffing out a Wayne Rooney sight of goal at one end, at the other Daryl Murphy was coming close with a shot and a header but, otherwise, the striker never looked like carrying his goal-blazing club form into the international arena and breaking his duck for Ireland.
Shortly before the break, McGoldrick had a sniff of a chance too, only to be denied by a timely Gary Cahill block after McGeady had run at the heart of the English defence.
England were playing the better build-up football but lacked a cutting edge against a defence well-marshalled by John O’Shea and, while the appearance of James McClean and Shane Long after the break added some badly needed impetus to Ireland’s spasmodic attacking play, momentum was just as quickly lost again in the ensuing substitution merry-go-round.
Taking over in goal, Shay Given had a couple of uncomfortable moments – better now than in a week’s time, you might say – but if there was one big lesson from this game with the imminent visit of Scotland in mind, it must be that Ireland’s retention of the ball, so sloppy at times in his absence yesterday, can only be improved with Wes Hoolahan in the side.
And after that, probably the less said about this one the better. Roy Hodgson rather neatly summed it up afterwards when, anticipating what he thinks will be a “ding-dong” battle between the Irish and the Scots in the same venue next Saturday, he added: “Obviously, it will be more exciting than today’s game. The atmosphere was fairly subdued – and I’m quite happy with that.”
Keiren Westwood (Shay Given 62); Seamus Coleman, John O’Shea, Marc Wilson, Robbie Brady; Jeff Hendrick, Glenn Whelan (Harry Arter 62), James McCarthy (James McClean 45), Aiden McGeady; David McGoldrick (Shane Long 45), Daryl Murphy (Jon Walters 52).
Joe Hart; Phil Jones, Gary Cahill (Phil Jagielka 73), Chris Smalling, Ryan Bertrand; James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Jack Wilshere (Ross Barkley 65), Raheem Sterling (Andros Townsend 65), Adam Lallana (Theo Walcott 81); Wayne Rooney (Jamie Vardy 73).
Arnold Hunter (Northern Ireland)
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