Woe in Warsaw means play-off minefield beckons for Republic
Worse, they will have to go into the play-off without John O’Shea and Jon Walters, the former seeing red and the latter yellow for fouls, committed in desperation as time ran out, on Polish talisman Robert Lewandowski.
Perhaps it was partly the monumental effort which Ireland had put in to dethrone the world champions on Thursday but, just 72 hours later, they simply couldn’t summon another performance worthy of securing the 2-2 draw or better needed to progress automatically to the tournament next summer.
Concerns about his bruised heel, on top of a performance in which he’d given everything against Germany, meant that Wes Hoolahan didn’t make the starting line-up, an omission which gave rise to fears – quickly realised — that Ireland would struggle to retain possession in the absence of their most technically accomplished player.
In total, there were five changes from Thursday’s starting line-up, birthday boy Seamus Coleman and Glenn Whelan returning, Robbie Brady reverting to full back to replace Stephen Ward – which allowed James McClean to play on the left – and, no surprise here, Shane Long making only second start of the campaign. In goal, Darron Randolph was asked to take up where he’d left off at the Aviva.
The loss of their best supporting player, Arkadiusz Milik – the architect of six goals and six assists in this campaign -was a blow to Poland but confidence remained high that even without the help of his faithful sidekick, the man of the moment, Lewandowski, would prevail.
Those familiar stats – 14 goals in five games, all but one of them from around the penalty spot – meant that manager Adam Nawalka hardly thought he was giving a hostage to fortune when he declared before kick off that no-one could stop the man they call ‘Lewy’.
And he was right: it’s now 15 in six.
But it was the man they call Longy who was seeing more of the action in the game’s nervy opening phase as he used his pace to harass the Polish defence while McClean was doing something similar, but in a rather more uncompromisingly robust way, as Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir – the man who sent off Keith Andrews at Euro 2012 – found frequent cause to whistle up the green shirts.
The game and the night exploded into life in the 14th minute when Ireland were caught cold from a corner, Grzegorz Krychowiak coming onto the pulled-back ball to drive low, via a deflection, to the corner of the net, leaving Randolph helplessly flat-footed. But, astonishingly, immediately from the restart, the ball was up in the opposing penalty area where, to the dismay of the white shirts, the referee was perfectly positioned to penalise Michal Pazdan for a kick to Long’s head. And, in the absence once again of Robbie Keane, the redoubtable Jon Walters kept his nerve against Lukasz Fabianski and a wall of sound, to bury the spot kick.
Barely had the crowd a chance to catch their breath than the Poles thought they were back in front only for the offside flag to rule out Krzysztof Maczynski’s effort.
Deafeningly roared on by their passionate support, Poland always looked threatening when attacking the Irish goal, and there was more than a little seat-of-the-pants defending required as the green shirts attempted to clear their lines. Individual errors also abounded, though the Poles were hardly exempt from that, as composure on the ball was at a premium in the frantic, white-hot atmosphere.
Yet, the hosts were clearly growing in confidence as the half progressed and, four minutes from the break, it was that man Robert Lewandowski, meeting Maczynski’s cross and beating Randolph’s dive with a precise and powerful header, to put the Poles back in front.
Yet, for all that an alarmingly creaking Ireland were on the back foot, they came out for the start of the second-half knowing that, if they could keep Lewandowski and friends at bay, one goal would still be enough to put them through.
But there was a further blow to Irish hopes inside ten minutes of the restart when Shane Long was forced off after a ball-winning but heavy challenge by Kamil Glik, Robbie Keane coming off the bench to take his place.
And minutes later, as the clock ticked past the hour mark, O’ Neill tried to salvage the situation by going 4-4—2, sending on Aiden McGeady for the labouring Glenn Whelan, with Walters joining Keane upfront.
Suddenly, Ireland were establishing a decent foothold in the Polish half for virtually the first time in the game but, in pushing bodies forward, it also meant that they were dangerously vulnerable to the counter-attack, Randolph keeping them in it by coming off his line to make a terrific save from Kamil Grosiki in the 65th minute.
In the 71st minute, Wes Hoolahan finally made his delayed arrival, in place of James McClean, a last throw of the dice for Ireland.
And in the 80th minute they almost hit the jackpot, McGeady clipping a lovely ball into the box where Richard Keogh’s goal-bound header was kept out on the line less than convincingly by Fabianski.
But, even with five added minutes of injury time, that was as close as the visitors got, O’Shea and Walters summing up a bad night for Ireland with the fouls that will keep them out of the play-off.
Fabianski,Piszczek,Glik,Pazdan,Wawrzyniak,Linetty, Krychowiak,Olkowski (Blaszczykowski 63),Maczynski (Szukala 78), Grosicki (Peszko 85),Lewandowski.
Szczesny,Cionek,Jedrzejczyk,Zielinski,Kapustka, Mila,Sobiech,Borysiuk,Boruc. Booked: Glik,Peszko
Randolph,Coleman,O’Shea,Keogh,Brady, McClean (Hoolahan 73),McCarthy,Whelan (McGeady 58),Hendrick, Walters,Long (Keane 55).
Forde,Wilson,Meyler,Murphy,Christie,McShane, Gibson,McGoldrick,Elliot. Sent Off: O’Shea (90). Booked: O’Shea,Whelan,Walters.
Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
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