Going in search of that elusive cutting edge

As he reflects on what might have been against Serbia and what has to be in Ireland’s remaining two World Cup qualifiers, Martin O’Neill chooses his words as if composing a small ad for the ‘Wanted’ section.

“Before we even think about Wales we have to beat Moldova,” he says. “But if we apply the same sort of pressure as we did the other night, maybe somebody will come up with that moment, that decisive moment, of getting us a goal. Just somebody… a goalscorer.”

Ireland’s three points from a possible 12 in 2017 — in stark contrast to 10 from 12 the previous year — might be the most damning statistical illustration of the extent of the sharp downturn in their World Cup qualification fortunes. But not far behind is their goals for record: Two in the last four games as against seven in the first four.

Hence the manager’s preoccupation, now probably bordering on obsession, with finding someone to put the ball in the back of the net, the most fundamental requirement of all if, seemingly against the odds, Ireland are to pull off a last-gasp escape act on the road to Russia.

O’Neill mentions that the anticipated completion of the paperwork necessary to activate Scott Hogan’s eligibility for Ireland should be completed in time for the Aston Villa man to come into the selection picture for the October games. And, unsolicited, he also brings up the name of former Cork City striker Sean Maguire, now making an early impact with Preston.

But almost in the same breath, the manager cautions against expecting too much too soon from players with zero experience of international football.

“While you like some people like himself (Hogan) and young Maguire to come into the squad and maybe have a little look round for a while, it’s asking a lot to go in (to the team),” he says. “But, we’ll see, you never know what the month might bring in terms of players playing a wee bit of extra football at club level, even in the Championship, and maybe just being ready for it.”

While, to most observers, there was a chalk and cheese contrast between Ireland’s performances in Tbilisi on Saturday and Dublin on Tuesday — most strikingly in the games’ respective first halves — O’Neill, while full of praise for the improvement in the team’s play, continues to be most exercised by Ireland’s failure, common to both games, to land a killer blow.

“We didn’t play well in the first half in Georgia, absolutely,” he concedes. “We scored a goal and then we couldn’t get the ball for periods. We had to do something about that. On Tuesday night we attempted to rectify that and we did do. But we still didn’t get a goal. And that’s obviously the big concern.

“A Robbie Keane, a 27-year-old Robbie Keane, would have absolutely loved that situation — he would have loved to be the hero, to score the goal. Which I think he could have done. We don’t have that real cutting edge and we’ve had to try and win games without that cutting edge. Without that Gareth Bale in your team, without that world-class player. Our world-class player is, unfortunately, injured at this moment.

“And that is not being demeaning to my team. My team were fantastic the other night. So, inconsistency of performance? No. We came out of Georgia and got something out of the game and remained unbeaten. It would have been great to have won and the irony of it all is the fact that, even though we played poorly in the game, we actually created more chances than perhaps we normally do, even with an excellent performance. We could have scored four goals out in Georgia. Whether we deserved to do that is another thing. But that was the case.”

Stressing the primacy of the result in football, he again takes issue with the use of the word ‘inconsistent’ to describe Ireland under his watch.

“No, it’s not, I don’t judge it like that,” he declares. “This is the first time that we’ve been beaten here in this tournament. First time we’ve been beaten at home in my time as well. And beaten by a very, very decent Serbian side that we had the better of during the course of the game. I think that if you’d been speaking to the Welsh manager (Chris Coleman) before their game, he would have taken a 1-0 win in Moldova. He’d just have been delighted to get the points on the board.”

For his part, O’Neill will have to seek to plot victory over Moldova in Dublin on October 6 without James McClean — who scored twice against them in the 3-1 win in Chisinau last year — and Robbie Brady, both of whom are suspended after picking up yellow cards against Serbia.

“It’s not ideal and obviously I’ll give that a lot of consideration when I clear my head,” he says. “It’s a real shame the players picking up the bookings in the match and, while it’s right to say that they will be available for Wales, we’ve got a big, big game against Moldova without two of our key players. And that is a blow.”

But perhaps not nearly so wounding to morale as coming away with nothing to show for their efforts against Serbia after, as David Meyler phrased it, the team had put its “heart and soul” into the game on Tuesday night. However, O’Neill is backing his players — and, indeed, himself — to bounce back and give winning expression in the last two games to what some might simply dismiss as fighting talk.

“Obviously, they were very downcast in the dressing room on Tuesday night,” he says. “They were adamant we should have had a penalty (for a foul on Daryl Murphy) but you always felt that once the referee had sent the player off he was never going to give anything for us.

“But, yeah, it’s my job to lift the players, my job to lift myself for a start. I just think that, after the performance the other night, that will be easier. They’ll be ready for it. I said to them in the dressing room: You have to win the two games. And we’re capable of doing that.

“We’re still fighting. It’s not big talk from me. We can win these last two games.”