No new dawn but Coleman and Rice step up

No real ‘dawn of a new era’ headlines from Turkey, I’m afraid, as Ireland went down 1-0 on a night which, above all, was a reminder that neither of these teams will be starring in Russia in a few months.

The big hope beforehand would have been that Sean Maguire would open his international account but that never looked like happening for the hour he was on the pitch, and while Scott Hogan came much closer to scoring on his debut, the Aston Villa man’s failure to find the back of the net, after being superbly set up by Jeff Hendrick, robbed the visitors of their one big chance of glory.

Still, Martin O’Neill will find solace and encouragement here and there, not least in the return to international action after long lay-offs of both Seamus Coleman and Alan Judge.