Ireland emerge with pride intact

Greece 0 Republic of Ireland 0

Irish football may have taken a few knocks in recent weeks with two successive Euro 2004 qualifying defeats and the departure of Mick McCarthy as manager but Don Givens’ makeshift team emerged from this friendly international with their heads held high.

Restoring pride and confidence had always been the order of the day following those defeats away to Russia and at home to Switzerland in Group 10 of the European Championship qualifying campaign.

Ireland had not been helped by the withdrawal of 10 players from the squad on Sunday night – seven of whom would almost certainly have started this match.

But those who survived, and those who answered late calls, did not let down their country, despite three of them – Richard Dunne, Colin Healy and Stephen McPhail – being asked to play out of position.

This was likely to be Givens’ one and only match in charge and the under-21 boss – who received a telephone call from McCarthy before kick-off wishing him good luck – was determined not to take the occasion lightly.

However, there was an embarrassingly quiet atmosphere in the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, the home of Panathinaikos at the start of the night as this match failed to capture the imagination of the locals.

In fact, more spectators were expected at a nearby basketball match involving the Greek national team than the 5,000 hoped for at this 16,000-capacity stadium, and not even the reduction in prices to just €1 could swell the attendance.

At least the teams tried to provide some excitement and there were chances at both ends within the first five minutes.

The Greeks won the first corner on the left after four minutes which was driven in low to the near post by Sotirios Kyrgiakos. It fell kindly for Newcastle defender Nikos Dabizas, the home team’s skipper, on the six-yard line but his shot was blocked by Gary Doherty.

The Irish broke forward and Stephen McPhail, winning his seventh cap, sent in a good cross for Eircom League striker Glen Crowe, making his senior debut, who hit his volley at the goalkeeper.

There was almost an embarrassing moment for Shay Given after six minutes. John O’Shea rolled a tame back-pass towards him but the ball hit a divot and bobbled up just as the Newcastle goalkeeper was about to clear. Fortunately for Ireland it ran just past the post and behind for another corner.

Ireland’s unfamiliar-looking team remained composed and came close to scoring on two occasions as they cleverly built from the back.

After seven minutes Doherty nodded down in the box for the in-form Everton midfielder Lee Carsley but he missed his shot. The ball was retrieved by Crowe who did well to hit a shot on the turn, which crept just past the post.

Then after 11 minutes Leeds youngster McPhail curled in a corner from the right and Colin Healy sent a glancing header narrowly beyond the far post.

It was an encouraging start by Givens’ men, who were perhaps adapting better to the training ground atmosphere than their hosts.

Given did well after 38 minutes to deal with Greece’s best chance of the half, when he dived to his left to hold on to Vassilios Tsartas’ drive from 20 yards which had taken a deflection off O’Shea.

The Greeks came into the game in the dying seconds of the half as Given was well positioned to catch a Charisteas header, and there could be no complaints when the Irish went in at half-time on level terms.

Givens had warned that he would not make changes just for the sake of it, so it was no surprise to see the same 11 players resume for Ireland. The Greeks, however, clearly wanted to experiment, as they made seven changes at the break, including the goalkeeper, with Dabizas among those to depart.

The Greeks used their remaiing two substitutes on the hour, which meant only Charisteas and Kyrgiakos survived from the starting XI. In contrast, all seven Irish subs were still on the bench.

Given came to the rescue again a minute later as he dived at the feet of Burnley striker Dimitrios Papadopoulos on the left edge of his six-yard box. He then stood his ground to hold on to a powerful downward header from Ioannis Goumas from a free-kick.

The Greeks threw a few more men forward and after 70 minutes former Leicester midfielder Theo Zagorakis saw his low drive from 20 yards deflected just wide.

Ireland had a slight scare after 78 minutes when McPhail suffered a whack on the head. He was able to continue after treatment, but picked up the game’s only yellow card after 81 minutes, presumably for saying something to Italian referee Alfredo Trentalange.

A tired-looking Crowe was replaced by Southampton’s Rory Delap with four minutes remaining, but the youngster had done little wrong.

There was one more let-off for Ireland a minute later as Ioannis Amanatidis screwed a shot wide, and both sides appeared happy enough as the final whistle sounded shortly afterwards.