Visitors lack spark but this felt like redemption for Faro
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo gives his shirt to a young fan after the game
This wasn’t quite revenge for Faro but it certainly felt like redemption to Ireland.
Beating Luxembourg on Sunday to claim third spot in the World Cup qualifying group will deliver a consolation prize too.
Pilfered to three points, and then one, by Cristiano Ronaldo’s late double on the first day of September, Ireland were street-wise and solid when it mattered to take a point off the top seeds at a rocking Aviva Stadium.
Matches of superior consequence await both on Sunday but the Portuguese will be missing their 38-year-old powerhouse Pepe for group decider against Serbia after he got sent off for a second booking with eight minutes remaining.
For Ireland, this was a different test passed to that of last month’s wins over Azerbaijan and Serbia, evidence Stephen Kenny’s side can merge grit with verve against a European superpower, even if they were decimated.
It could have got even better had Matt Doherty’s goal in stoppage-time not been disallowed for debutant Will Keane’s shove on Rui Patricio.
Equally, there could have been late anguish but for Gavin Bazunu foiling Ronaldo at his near post moments later following the last of his several surges into the box.
Insights about the nations’ respective intentions were apparent from the team lists submitted 90 minutes before kick-off.
Although Portugal boss Fernando Santos had been non-committal about the status of his sextet carrying bookings into the penultimate game, thereby risking suspension for Sunday, he played it safe.
Only João Palhinha was set free, leaving first-choice defenders João Cancelo and Rúben Dias to sit it out, alongside veteran José Fonte, midfielder Renato Sanches and striker Diogo Jota. Couple that policy with the decision to leave Bernardo Silva in Lisbon – to recover from his tired muscle, not strained – and it was clear where their priorities lay.
Portugal didn’t necessarily have to win the match, as a draw set them a target of avoiding defeat to seal qualification, but Santos still felt there was sufficient quality in his ranks to make their passage all the more emphatic.
It’s difficult to describe any side with Ronaldo at the wheel as understrength but they were clearly lacking spark.
It was no surprise the odds of an Ireland victory narrowed from 9/1 to 6/1 once the Portugal team was announced.
For instance, Bernardo’s replacement in the No 10 jersey, Matheus Nunes, was making just his third appearance and doesn’t possess a sinew of the Manchester City playmaker’s class.
Santos ended the Sporting Lisbon prospect’s evening before the hour mark, shortly after dallying inside his box coughed up a chance that Josh Cullen failed to take.
Kenny ignored the yellow peril alarm bells, sending Matt Doherty into battle to run the gauntlet of marking Ronaldo without mistiming his tackles to incur a booking and ban.
The Ireland manager was adopting a game-by-game approach, rather than concentrating on the visit to the Grand Duchy, where victory will be demanded to end the campaign with pride.
For this one, the sole demand made by Jeff Hendrick was to get in the faces of their visiting aristocrats. Shane Duffy duly obliged, barging into Ronaldo, just moments before Valencia's Gonçalo Guedes got another unique welcome from Enda Stevens.
There’s no better purveyor of Ireland’s physicality than Duffy and he brushed off the attentions of two defenders from the first corner on five minutes to win his aerial battle.
It wasn’t just set-pieces that Ireland threatened from for Doherty slalomed past Diogo Dalot into the box to cause unease. Maybe it was his No 10 shirt that inspired him.
Doherty’s main mission, however, was to shadow the world’s record goalscorer and he lost him on 18 minutes. Thankfully, Duffy didn’t by darting across to block his low shot after Guedes had squared into his path.
It was an otherwise fruitless half for the great one, nursing his eye following a challenge from Duffy and then his back after Doherty and captain Séamus Coleman tag-teamed inside the box. Spanish referee Jesús Gil Manzano didn’t deem it unfair either, perhaps a godsend for Ireland.
Ronaldo’s frustration grew when his intended pass to the unmarked Andre Silva struck Guedes with Ireland exposed but the hosts ended the half with their tails up. Callum Robinson whipped a 30-yarder wide but, following a short free-kick, it took a timely interception by Nélson Semedo inside the six-yard box to deny Hendrick what appeared to be a tap-in.
This wasn’t a mesmerising Portuguese of recent years and Ireland evidently sensed a chance to pounce. They failed to punish Nunes’s overplaying in the box early in the second half, competitive debutant Chiedozie Ogbene recycling the ball into the path of Cullen, whose first-team shot was tame.
Still, Ronaldo had his 116th international goal at the forefront of his plan and after Duffy took one for the team by blocking the full force of his free-kick, the Manchester United ghosted into the box for the game’s best chance on 18 minutes.
From an errant Hendrick free-kick, the Men O’War broke with Silva’s cross dropping perfectly for Ronaldo to nod goalbound. There would be no repeat of his Faro heroics, for his accuracy was millimetres off, sending his downward header fractionally past the post with Gavin Bazunu beaten.
Both sides were replacing the earlier caution with adventure. Fourteen minutes from the finish, Stevens popped up in the box to connect with Ogbene’s neat centre but snatched at the chance, blazing it over.
Down the other end, Ronaldo rifled his shot beyond the far post but his fellow stalwart Pepe would meet a premature end to his night with eight minutes left. Just 10 minutes after being harshly booked for a handball, his flailing arm when trying to clear danger caught Robinson and attracted his second yellow.
G Bazunu; S Coleman, S Duffy, J Egan; M Doherty, J Cullen, J Hendrick (C Hourihane 78), E Stevens (J McClean 78); J McGrath (A Idah 61), C Ogbene (W Keane 90+1); C Robinson.
R PatrĂcio; N Semedo, Danilo, Pepe, Dalot; J Palhinha, M Nunes (J Moutinho 57), Fernandes (Renato Sanches 75); Ronaldo, A Silva (JoĂŁo FĂ©lix 75), G Guedes (R LeĂŁo 56, J Fonte 83).
JesĂşs Gil Manzano (Spain) Attendance: 50, 737.
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