Martin O’Neill urgently needs Cork send-off
On the plus side, the Irish didn’t lose on home soil, nobody succumbed to injury and the manager got his chance to run the rule over a handful of hungry hearts as he finalises his squad for France.
With Marc Wilson’s Euros injury disappointment edging Shane Duffy ever closer to a place on the plane to France – the Derryman even graced the cover of the match programme - it meant that when O’Neill’s experimental starting line-up was unveiled an hour before kick-off, the attention was very much on the inclusion of hopeful contenders like Harry Arter, Stephen Quinn and David McGoldrick alongside cast-iron certainties like Seamus Coleman, Shane Long and Jon Walters.
The hosts shaped up in a 4-3-1-2 formation at the start, McGoldrick occasionally out-muscled in the Wes Hoolahan number 10 role behind Walters and Long, while an early heavy tackle by Arter, which drew the wrath of the referee, suggested that the Bournemouth man might be at risk of trying too hard.
In another all too familiar development, the Dutch quickly took possession of the ball, forcing Ireland to defend in numbers to prevent a direct threat to Darron Randoph’s goal, with the towering Duffy never slow to rise to the challenge when a clearing header was required or an order needed to be barked out.
But, at the other end of the pitch, it meant that Shane Long was having to live off scraps, tirelessly closing down defenders or chasing hopeful Irish punts forward into the channels.
It took until the 17th minute, and a surging intervention by the impressively lively Stephen Quinn, to finally raise the noise levels in the stadium but, at the end of the Reading man’s powerful run into open space, his cross to the back post was disappointingly over-hit.
Then it was the turn of the clever Arter to keep the mood buoyant, though his deflected shot from outside the box, allowed Jesper Cillessen a comfortable save.
The injury fear that dared not speak its name saw Shane Long briefly requiring treatment to an existing cut on his knee, the relief on Martin O’Neill’s face – and around the whole stadium – palpable as the patched-up striker was soon back in the fray.
Then came the breakthrough, just short of the half-hour mark. Dropping deep in a bid to get on the ball and influence the play, McGoldrick showed his technique and vision by picking out Seamus Coleman with a raking pass and, it was from the Robbie Brady corner which resulted when Coleman’s cross was initially cut out, that Long was perfectly positioned at the post to scoop the ball over the line, after a powerful header from the late-arriving John O’Shea had initially been parried by the ‘keeper.
Once again, the goal – which took the home side to half-time in the lead – underlined the value of the set-piece in Ireland’s attacking armoury, especially now that Brady has become the team’s reliable go-to guy in this department.
Yet, it’s only fair to acknowledge too that, with McGoldrick growing into the game and Coleman an increasingly threatening presence up the right side, the build-up had been pretty tasty too.
Eight minutes after the restart, Brady was whipping in another fine corner but, unlike O’Shea, Duffy couldn’t keep his strong header below the bar, and then, almost immediately, Long went even closer after a spot of head-tennis in the Dutch box.
Despite the possession stats continuing to favour the visitors, Darron Randolph still hadn’t had a save of note to make until he took a cross cleanly out of the air as the clock slipped past the hour mark, testimony to the apparent solidity of an Irish rearguard in which Duffy was playing with the authority of a man earning his 103rd cap rather than just his third, and Brady, after an iffy start, was giving plenty of reassurance about his own defensive capabilities at full-back.
From the 65th minute on, Martin O’’Neill opted to ring the changes, James McClean, Jeff Hendrick and Darron Gibson all simultaneously taking to the pitch, before the crowd of 42,238 had the chance to accord a special favourite, Wes Hoolahan, his own ovation when he came on for McGoldrick.
But then, just as it looked as if proceedings were going to peter out in a happy-clappy sort of way, Duffy stained an otherwise near-faultless display when, with just five minutes remaining, he allowed substitute Luuk De Jong to get into space behind him to head a Jetro Willens cross to the net, as Randolph seemed uncertain about whether to come for the ball or stay on his line.
So not quite the uplifting end to the night the stadium craved or the team deserved perhaps but, with bigger challenges looming, a timely reminder of the need for maximum concentration from first minute to last.
And after that late, late reality check, we can now perhaps see another good reason why Martin O’Neill was always keen to squeeze in an additional game - against Belarus in Cork on Tuesday - since it means his squad gets one final opportunity to head for France with a proper spring in its step.
Randolph,Coleman,O’Shea,Duffy, Whelan (Gibson 67),Arter (O’Kane 82),Brady,Quinn (Hendrick 67), Long (McClean 67),Walters,McGoldrick (Hoolahan 76).
Darron Gibson for Glenn Whelan (66) James McClean for Shane Long (66) Jeff Hendrick for Stephen Quinn (66) Wes Hoolahan for David McGoldrick (75) Eunan O’Kane for Harry Arter (82)
Cillessen,Willems,Bruma,Veltman,van Dijk,Bazoer, Strootman (van Ginkel 70),Wijnaldum (de Jong 82),Promes, Depay (Berghuis 61),Janssen (Dost 75).
Steven Berghuis for Memphis Depay (60) Marco Van Ginkel for Kevin Strootman (69) Bas Dost for Vincent Janssen (70) Luke De Jong for Georgino Wijnaldum (83)
Artur Manuel Ribeiro Soares Dias (Portugal)
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