TV View: Danger here? Not in the least with George Hamilton for guidance

RTÉ commentator George Hamilton at the Aviva Stadium. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Good news. After days of rumours, whispers, and innuendo concerning his future, it turns out the speculation was nothing but a bottle of smoke.

Yes indeed, George Hamilton is back in the RTÉ hot seat having missed the Portugal and Azerbaijan games.

A nation releases its breath. The reassurance is enormous. Danger here? Not in the least.

Having the avuncular tones of George for guidance is like having a sweeper at the back or an extra midfielder screening the defence. The viewer cannot but feel better, safer, warmer.

The revenant sounds in the best of form too, welcoming Stephen Kelly as co-commentator and complimenting him on his elegant attire.

And then… “Expectation abounds!” Okay, back up there a minute, big guy. Let’s not overdo the enthusiasm.

Expectation may express itself in many ways but one thing it’s specifically not doing tonight is abounding. Much as we might wish it otherwise, nobody has forgotten what happened against Portugal and Azerbaijan.

Darragh Maloney even goes as far as to expressly avoid asking Liam Brady and Richie Sadlier for their predictions. After the events of the past week it’s a case of settling for small mercies, and fair enough too.

Liam hopes to witness Ireland showing “composure and confidence”. Richie, given the inevitability of “long spells where we don’t have the ball”, wants moments of quality up front as and when the opportunity arises. “The little moments we haven’t been able to celebrate because we haven’t seen them.”

It won’t be easy. Serbia have Dusan Tadic, formerly of Southampton, still as cunning and crafty as ever; Aleksandar Mitrovic, with his seven goals in four qualifiers to date; and Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic, much coveted by clubs across Europe this past summer.

The referee, by the by, is Jose Maria Sanchez, a bank accountant from Spain. Not Matej Jug from Slovenia. Let’s hope Senor Sanchez realises there are two facing pages in a ledger (or, um, whatever), not just the one. At least Ronaldo is not playing tonight.

Sure enough, the visitors dominate from the off, with Ireland’s determination to play it out from the back necessarily inviting pressure. But Gavin Bazunu looks assured and on the rare occasions the hosts make inroads in the other half of the field it’s the result of patient, careful passing moves.

Good. This is what Stephen Kenny has been trying to achieve. This is his calling card, his raison d’etre, his pathway to a brighter future.

Is he the right person in the right place at the wrong time?

The proverbial and actual man in the street — in this case a keen local junior soccer guy — observed to your correspondent on Monday that the Ireland boss was “an enlightened manager but an unlucky general”.

He is unlucky again after 19 minutes when Tadic’s corner is headed in at the near post by Sergej Milinkovic Savic. Then again, is this bad luck? Hardly.

If — and here’s the history of the Irish team over the past ten years in half a sentence — it’s always easier to defend competently against superior opponents than it is to prise open inferior ones, avoiding the concession of simple goals from set pieces is the most basic of requirements, notwithstanding Kenny’s determination to reinvent Ireland as Brazil or Holland or Bielsa’s Leeds United.

The goal separates the sides at half-time. “Fine performance, only downside really the goal,” announces George. Liam is not quite as impressed (“it’s been okay”) and Richie deplores the “poor, poor goal” conceded. Fairness compels the pair of them to again remind the viewer of the quality of the opposition, Liam hymning the Serbs’ “sharpness and cleverness that we don’t have”.

Having your goalkeeper as your standout performer is not a situation that any team wants. (Remember the run of years when David De Gea was Manchester United’s player of the season?) Bazunu was Ireland’s star player by a mile in the first half — “magnificent,” observes Liam — and shortly after the restart, he surpasses himself when denying Mitrovic via an outstretched foot. It keeps them in the game.

If the men in green understandably lack the finesse of Tadic et al they are far from lacking in spirit, a sure sign of a group playing for their manager. Five minutes from time they get their reward when Serbia make a mess of clearing a cross and the ball canons in off Nikola Milenkovic.

There’s probably a cheap gag to be made to the effect that the goal was unlikely to come from an Ireland player but in the circumstances it would be unfair. “It’s no more than Stephen Kenny’s team deserve,” declares George and he’s bang on.

A merited if — look, it’s important to be honest — fortunate draw? Yes. A moral victory? Awful phrase but okay, go on. “A night when a corner was turned” (George again)? Very possibly.

After this the current incumbent will surely be in situ for the next fixture. And yes, Stephen Kenny can look forward to being there too.