Ireland must be brave to hurt Portugal, insists Cullen

Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson and Josh Cullen during a Republic of Ireland training session. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Josh Cullen is confident Ireland can hurt Portugal in Thursday’s penultimate World Cup qualifier once they adopt a braver approach than last month’s meeting.

Rúben Neves punctured Ireland’s resistance with a stoppage-time winner in Lisbon, leaving Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side likely requiring four points from the final double-header that concludes in Hungary on Sunday afternoon.

Portugal know they’ll book their place in the Brazil-hosted World Cup next year by winning at Lansdowne Road but the fact the Cristiano Ronaldo-captained visitors conceded four goals across two meetings with the Hungarians offers encouragement of a shock.

Ireland, however, will require an improvement on their most recent outing in Dublin, last month’s sluggish 1-0 victory over bottom seeds Armenia.

Burnley midfielder Cullen was suspended having incurred his second booking of the campaign as part of the Irish rearguard action in Portugal three days earlier that frustrated Ronaldo.

Given Ireland will probably need to avoid defeat to avoid being eliminated from the battle for second with Sunday to spare, the 29-year-old has called for an adventurous outlook by his team.

“I certainly feel we can be braver in possession and hurt Portugal,” said London-born Cullen.

“We can take confidence from the last match against Portugal about being able to nullify them.

“We can take a lot of heart from that, in terms of containing a world-class side until the very end.

“But we know that the mindset needs to be that we must go one better. It’s about keeping that discipline to keep Portugal at bay but also show the other side of the game as well in terms of attacking.

“We've got good players in possession and must try to go forward to get the goal that's needed to give ourselves a chance of winning the game.” 

Victory would be desirable but a draw will extend the quest until the final day in Budapest.

Various permutations are possible depending on the outcome of Hungary’s visit to Armenia earlier on Thursday but the optimist in Cullen is telling him the biggest result of his six-year, 46-cap Ireland senior career is attainable.

“In any sort of walk of life, especially professional sport at the top level, once you start focusing on what other people are doing, you take your eye off the ball,” he said about the meeting of the other teams in the four-nation pool.

“From experience, I know that when you face the so-called better sides in the world, probably sometimes their main focus isn't the defensive side of the game.

“The lesson I took away from being on the pitch against Portugal is there’s areas we can exploit when we have the ball.

“That's taking nothing away from the great players they have, of course but there's a belief we're capable of hurting this team in possession.”