International Friendly Report: Republic of Ireland 2 - 2 Slovakia

Having gone a goal down inside 15 minutes, a captivating first-half comeback via two penalties in quick succession from Shane Long and James McClean was in the end not quite enough to give Ireland a second win from their two Easter games.  

A goal for Slovakia from Erik Sabo on half-time added to Miroslav Stoch’s earlier strike ensured the visitors to the Aviva Stadium like Ireland will travel  to France undefeated from this month’s set of friendlies ahead of this summer’s European Championship.

In a bizarre period of ten minutes, Slovakia both took the lead and gave it straight into welcoming Irish hands with two disastrous penalty giveaways which Martin O’Neill’s side were only too happy to take advantage of.

Slovakia had taken the lead following a hapless defensive mix-up from Ireland while Miroslav Stoch ensured both managers ended the night fairly satisfied, with a goal deflected off defender Paul McShane on a bad night for the 30-year-old Reading defender.

For Ireland Tuesday’s draw added to Good Friday’s 1-0 victory over Switzerland meaning that confidence will be high in order when they face Sweden on June 13, as well as giving O’Neill a steadier trail of thought on who will board the plane destined for his training camp in Versailles.

In a thoroughly entertaining opening half, Ireland terrorised Slovakia’s wingbacks Dusan Svento and Peter Pekarik. The pace was provided by the swift runs and agile movement from James McClean and Cyrus Christie down each flank.

Despite the Boys in Green’s surprisingly attack-fixated outlook in the opening ten minutes which saw the Slovak defence pinned back into its own half, it was the visitors who took an unexpected lead after fourteen minutes.

A defensive error concerning Stephen Ward on the left exposed Ireland’s high defensive line with Erik Sabo out of no-where racing through on goal. He punted the ball further into the acres of space in front of him than his legs could maintain.

He caught up with himself just in time to spot the unmarked Stoch darting in at the back post. Stoch garnered enough moxy to swirl the ball past Rob Elliot to give his side a 1-0 lead.

Elliot would find himself substituted moments later having fallen awkwardly in trying to prevent the goal in what was later deemed a serious knee injury for the Newcastle goalkeeper. Darren Randolph came on as his replacement.

Irish woes were put behind them no less than seven minutes later however, when Slovak goalkeeper Matus Kozacik rashly brought down Shane Long who was running after a loose touch going wide. Long stood over the spot-kick and duly dispatched into the bottom left corner for 1-1.

Celebrations had barely settled at Lansdowne Road before Long was toppled over again, this time by Martin Skrtel, and Norwegian referee Nielsen pointed to the spot once again, with tongue in cheek and a wry smile at the bizarre nature of the situation.

This time James McClean took responsibility and hammered the ball into the back of the net to crank celebrations into a higher gear.

Ireland looked to be in cruise control but the half ended on an unprovoked sour note as Robert Vittek stunned the home support with a deflected goal off Paul McShane which drew the sides level going into the break.

Early in the second half Stoch, winner of the 2013 FIFA Puskas Award for best goal of the year, found himself in acres of space again with Ireland’s centre back pairing of Paul McShane and John O’Shea caught napping insufficiently.

Stoch bour down on goal but a lack of pace combined with an evident lacklustre strike on his weaker foot was easily gathered by Randolph.

Robbie Brady replaced Shane Long at half-time and imposed himself on the game with an array of missed free-kicks which featured as Ireland’s most imposing attacking threat in the second period as the game died down as did the crowd’s atmosphere along with it.

Brady was made to defend as Slovakia came out of their shell with substitute Robert Mak towing the line before unleashing a stinging effort that whipped into the side-netting of Randolph’s net.

However that was as close as either side would get in a second half that acted as the come-down to the climax of the opening period.

Both sides emptied their benches as yet another careful deciding factor of who would make each 23-man squad was put to rest, with Ireland maintaining another firm and competitive showing, stretching a run to 11 games without a loss at home.

Ireland: Rob Elliot (Darren Randolph 16); Cyrus Christie, John O'Shea (Alex Pearce), Paul McShane, Stephen Ward (Jonathan Haye 78); Eunan O'Kane (Anthony Pilkington 66), Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy, Wes Hoolahan (Aiden McGeady 72); Shane Long (Robbie Brady 46), James McClean.

Subs not used: David Forde, Ciaran Clark, Richard Keogh, Shane Duffy, Matt Doherty, Seamus Coleman, David Meyler,  Alan Judge, Stephen Quinn, Stephen Gleeson.

Bookings: James McClean (67).

Slovakia: Matus Kozacik; Peter Pekarik, Martin Skrtel, Kornel Salata, Erik Sabo (Ondrej Duda 64); Jan Gregus (Patrik Hrosovsky 74), Dusan Svento (Lukas Tesak 88), Miroslav Stoch (Vladimir Weiss 64), Marek Hamsik, Robert Vittek (Adam Nemec 64); Stanislav Sestak (Robert Mak 64).

Subs not used: Jan Mucha, Martin Dubravka, Jan Durica, Tomas Hubocan, Michal Duris.

Bookings: Erik Sabo (14), Peter Pekarik (63).

Referee: Ola Ober Nielsen (Norway).

Attendance: 30,217.

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: James McClean (Republic of Ireland).