Have we been too negative about Ireland in recent months? Maybe we have. Maybe the beauty of this Irish team is there for all to see, but we’re just not paying enough attention.
To combat this, I took note of every single positive I witnessed in last night’s match at the Aviva Stadium between the Republic of Ireland and Wales. Here are the results:
- 2 mins - Ireland string 12 passes together in just our second spell of possession. It’s gonna be a good night.
- 6 Mins - James McClean nails David Brooks.
- 8 mins - Callum Robinson plays a cross-field ball that finds its man.
- 9 mins - Cyrus Christie dispossesses Matthew Smith in his own danger area and creates Ireland’s first clear cut chance in 4 years. Ignore what happens next.
- 14 mins - James McClean crosses the ball and can’t beat the first man but the first man is Jeff Hendrick so Ireland keep possession.
- 16 mins - Kevin Long nails David Brooks.
- 21 mins - Harry Arter completes a cross-field pass to James McClean. We lose the ball immediately but who cares? That’s two cross-field passes in 21 minutes, Jules Rimet sill gleaming.
- 24 mins - Cyrus Christie with a good interception. Let’s not mention that he immediately passes the ball back to Wales.
- 29 mins - Tyler Roberts of Wales passes the ball straight out play which is funny.
- 30 mins - Richard Keogh tries to clear the ball, but the ball wallops off the back of Cyrus Christie so Ireland are forced to play out of the back and enjoy their longest spell of sustained possession of the match so far.
- 30 mins - Callum Robinson completes a cross-field pass to Matt Doherty. Doherty totally mis-controls it but, again, let’s focus on the positives.
- 37 mins - Matt Doherty wins a corner against Ben Davies. Aviva crowd goes wild.
- 37 mins - Duffy header from corner is straight at Hennessy but it’s a chance and we’ve doubled our shots on target tally from the Denmark game.
- 40 mins - McClean to Hendrick to O’Brien to Robinson. Shot is blocked outside the box but we are now officially Brazil.
- HT – General feeling is ‘meh’. But it’s not a feeling of impending doom, so it’s a positive.
- 50 mins - Ben Davies attempts a cross-field pass but is a mile away from any teammate. He plays for Spurs.
- 53 - Jeff Hendrick performs a back-heel slide tackle. Jeff Hendrick nails David Brooks in the process.
- 58 - Wales free kick in a dangerous position. Feeling of relief because Gareth Bale is injured. Feeling of elation because some lad who plays for Derby County is standing over it.
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- Oh, and the Welsh kits
