Ireland desperately looking for answers

Almost five years into his reign, at a cost of €10m in wages, Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane are, apparently, laying building blocks for the Ireland squad.

This was the declaration from the Ireland manager in the aftermath of another uninspiring performance against Denmark on Saturday.

At least it wasn’t the carnage of two aggregate 9-1 whipping against the same opposition and Wales in the previous 11 months, we were told. James McClean branded the stalemate outcome as ‘progress’.

It was a low base to work upwards from, but there was scant evidence over the painful 90 minutes that Ireland, under O’Neill and Keane, are waking from their slumber.

A couple of other soundbites from his post-match musings suggested O’Neill was clutching at straws; holding to a draw a team that pushed World Cup finalists Croatia to a penalty-shoot in the summer, he asserted, should be commended. Except this Danish team on Saturday was without its talisman Christian Eriksen, a player possessing the finesse to complete some of the breakaways Age Hareide’s team mustered on their Lansdowne Road visit.

His view, too, that the introduction of Andreas Christensen with 10 minutes left demonstrated Denmark’s were hanging on for a draw was bizarre. The Chelsea player is typically a centre-back, but slotted into midfield where his quality in passing consolidated their grip on the match.

Being an away day, the Danes were satisfied with a share of the spoils.

“We’ve picked up a point, are leading the group and have Ireland to come next month at home,” said Hareide with a smile.

Had the Spanish referee Javier Estrada awarded the stoppage-time penalty for the faintest of contacts on Shane Duffy — and plenty of fellow whistlers have been hostages to hometown decisions before — then Ireland might have stolen an unlikely win.

Instead, however, of papering over another abject display, reality has struck home.

Ireland seem clueless and devoid of ideas. One shot on target isn’t acceptable. Seven efforts in five matches during the year confirms this wasn’t a once-off display. Much was made of the collective sigh among those still inside the stadium when McClean’s second-half free-kick found Cyrus Christie in an offside position, but an incident in the first half proved equally enlightening.

Kevin Long, advancing from defence, saw his threaded pass to his namesake Shane intercepted. In response to his intended recipient’s derision, the Corkman threw his arms in the air to reflect the sparsity of his options. Without an effective game-plan, coupled with players such as Christie thrown into unaccustomed positions with 90-minute notice, as he was on Saturday, Ireland are going nowhere.

Still, O’Neill has benefitted from breaks over his tenure, such as Wales missing Gareth Bale for the must-win concluding World Cup qualifier last year.

Luck has landed again, with injury preventing the Real Madrid galactico being involved tomorrow. That Ethan Ampadu, another vital element of their 4-1 whitewash in Cardiff last month, is also out supplies another lifeline. O’Neill is fast running out of them.