Boys in Green set for friendly away to Poland

The FAI confirmed today that the Republic of Ireland will travel to Poland in September for a friendly. This is in addition to the home friendly against Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on 15 November which was also announced today (see here).

 

While the venue and kick off time for the game in Poland has yet to be confirmed, the game will take place on Tuesday 11 September. The Poland friendly will take five days after Martin O'Neill's men have kicked off their UEFA Nations League campaign away to Wales on Thursday 6 September. 

 

That competition has taken the place of many of the friendly dates that were previously available but with Ireland playing in League B in a group with Denmark and Wales, it left two free dates for non-competitive games.

 

This is due to the fact that six dates for UEFA Nations League action are set out later this year to facilitate teams in League C and D who play in groups with four teams.

 

While it isn’t a friendly match against the much loved Oman that was announced today, the FAI have rolled out a fixture against a team we have seen plenty of friendly action against down the years. 

 



This will be the 28th time the sides have met, with all but four of those games coming in friendlies. Overall Poland has had the better of results in the matches between the sides, winning 11 of those games, along with 10 draws.

 

The last time the sides played a friendly was in Poznan in November 2013 which ended in a scoreless draw.

 

The countries have of course met in competitive action since then. The results from the competitive ties between the countries, which have all been in European Championship qualifiers, include the most recent 2015 match which ended with a 2-1 win for Poland in Warsaw along with three draws; a 1-1 draw in Dublin in 2014,  and 3-3 in Poznan and 0-0 in Dublin which both took place in 1991.

 



 

 

 

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile