- John McDermott
- Sat, Sep 05 2015
A pedestrian first half performance was contrasted by a brisker second half outing as Ireland strolled to a 4-0 victory against minnows Gibraltar at the Estádio Do Algarve in Portugal.
Cyrus Christie opened the scoring with his first international goal, while Shane Long came off the bench to score the final goal of the game. But it was Robbie Keane, scorer of a brace on the night, who ended the contest early in the second half, and in doing so notched up his 67th international goal.
The game was always destined to be one way traffic, as Gibraltar once again simply hoped to compete and put in a respectable performance. If anything, it was the men from the Rock who had any right to be proud of themselves at half time. In fact, Gibraltar could even argue they were unlucky to go into the break losing the game.
Ireland's play was slow and lacking idea. Wesley Hoolahan was less influential than usual in this game, largely because Martin O'Neill deployed him on the periphery, playing wide right on the night. He kept drifting and getting involved more centrally, but that didn't stop the rest of the Irish players from bypassing the central midfield options and looking to release Robbie Keane or play the ball long to Jonathan Walters.
Ireland weren't lacking in chances however, and the left foot of Robbie Brady was heavily involved in the early attempts. His free-kick had Jordan Perez stretching to save what would have been an early opening goal, while it was Brady's left foot that crossed the ball into the box for Ciaran Clark to head the ball onto the crossbar.
Other chances were wasted and Ireland began to look a bit impatient in their build-up play before the deadlock was broken midway through the first half. Cyrus Christie worked himself into the box and looked to cross the ball low to the back post. The cross was so dangerous that no defender or attacker could get to it, the keeper decided to leave it, believing his angles were covered, but the ball rolled inside the far post.
Immediately after the goal, Walters hit a half volley from the edge of the box which looked set to dip under the crossbar, only for Perez to scramble back and tip the ball over the bar. However, Ireland's momentum faded and indeed Gibraltar almost equalised through a great half-volley from Liam Walker, but Shay Given was equal to the attempt as he tipped it around the post.
The second half began with Ireland showing more spring in their step, and within five minutes the score was 3-0. The second goal came from a Jonathan Walters cross, which was deflected by a Gibraltar defender onto the post. In an effort to save the deflection, the keeper dived to save the ball, but it only resulted in the ball hitting him from the rebound and falling into the path of Robbie Keane to tap in from a yard out.
Two minutes later and Wes Hoolahan was cheaply fouled in the box. Robbie Keane stepped up and expertly placed the ball into the bottom right corner along with sending the keeper the wrong way. His 67th international goal, fifth goal in this qualifying campaign and interestingly enough all five of those goals have come against Gibraltar.
Ireland looked set to add to that lead soon after, as they reached the peak of their fluidity soon after the goal, but Gibraltar composed themselves again and Ireland began to lower the intensity once more, content to simply control the game. This decision allowed Gibraltar the opportunity to adventure into the Irish half, and on one occasion they came close to scoring, only for a block from the Irish defence denying a shooting chance in the box.
Martin O'Neill emptied his bench with just under 20 minutes remaining, as Stephen Quinn, Shane Long, and a few minutes later Aiden McGeady entered the contest. Robbie Keane was denied his hat-trick as he made way for Long, and it was Long who wrapped up the tie.
Jeff Hendrick did well to work himself space on the right channel. He then put in a perfectly floated cross, which Long anticipated wonderfully, and making a great run in front of his marker he powerfully headed past Perez.
The final ten minutes saw Ireland flirting with the chance to make it five, but in the end the players settled for a 4-0 victory and certainly with the surprise news of Scotland’s defeat in Tbilisi, Martin O'Neill's men will believe their qualification hopes for Euro 2016 are very much alive once again. They return to Ireland focused and in confident mood ahead of the visit of Georgia on Monday night.
Gibraltar: Jordan Perez; John Sergeant (Robert Gulling 85), Joseph Chipolina, Erin Barnett, Roy Chipolina, Jean Carlos Garcia;Kely Casciaro (Jake Gosling 62), Anthony Bardon, Liam Walker; John Paul Duarte (Mickey Yome 73); Lee Casciaro.
Subs Not Used: Jamie Robba, Liam Neale, Justin Rovegno, Ryan Casciaro, James Coombes, Jayce Olivero, Jamie Bosio, Jeremy Lopez, Jesse Victory.
Yellow Cards: Kely Casciaro (9), Barnett (48).
Republic of Ireland: Shay Given; Cyrus Christie, Robbie Brady, John O'Shea, Ciaran Clark; Wes Hoolahan (Aiden McGeady 77), Glen Whelan, James McCarthy (Stephen Quinn 71), Jeff Hendrick; Jonathan Walters, Robbie Keane (Shane Long 71).
Subs Not Used: Darren Randolph, David Forde, Stephen Ward, David Meyler, Richard Keogh, Seamus Coleman, Marc Wilson, James McClean, Kevin Doyle.
Yellow Cards: Walters (42).
Referee: Marijo Strahonja (Croatia).
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Jonathan Walters.
