- Adrian Finnin
- Sun, Oct 09 2016
Ireland overcame Moldova in a hard fought encounter at the Zimbru Stadium by three goals to one due to a double from James McClean and another from Shane Long. The result sees Ireland move to joint top of Group D with Serbia.
Within the first two minutes, Ireland opened the scoring courtesy of Shane Long’s first goal in over 1000 minutes for his country. James McClean collected the breaking ball and played a pass to Wes Hoolahan. The Irish playmaker played a superb through ball to Shane Long who made no mistake with a side-footed finish into the bottom corner.
During the opening exchanges, a lack of confidence within the Moldovan camp was evident and along with the invention shown by Wes Hoolahan, Ireland dominated the first quarter of the game. Hoolahan appeared to be justifying calls for his regular inclusion albeit the standard of opposition was very poor.
The visitors were having a lot of joy on both wings which allowed plenty of crosses from both Stephan Ward and Seamus Coleman. Shane Long may have doubled his tally from one of multiple Seamus Coleman crosses, but the Tipperary man totally misjudged his header.
The home side lacked the quality to sustain attacks and press with any ferocity. It was from this deficiency that Ireland’s next chance arose as both Glenn Whelan and James McCarthy were afforded the freedom of the pitch to advance to the edge of the box. Wes Hoolahan picked out Whelan but his effort flew wide of Nicolai Calancea’s post.
Impressive energetic pressing from the trio of Long, McClean and Hoolahan resulted in the latter releasing McClean on the left hand side. However, the West Brom midfielder fired a poor shot over the bar.
On the stroke of half-time and totally against the run of play, the Moldovans produced a shock equaliser due to abysmal Irish defending. The inexperienced Shane Duffy played an ill-advised high line, which allowed captain Alexsandr Gatcan to play a floated ball in to the path of striker Igor Bugaev who outpaced the Irish defence and coolly slotted the ball past the hapless Darren Randolph. It was the first chance created by the home side who looked particularly poor throughout the half. Martin O’Neill would have been bitterly disappointed with the concession of such a soft goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Alexandru Dedov fired a speculative shot straight at Randolph as Moldova started in a positive fashion. Ireland’s first chance fell to James McClean but his weak header from a Jon Walters cross was gratefully caught by Nicholai Calancea.
On the hour mark, Callum O’Dowda made his competitive debut for Ireland as he replaced the injured Shane Long. Immediately, O’Dowda played a deep cross from the left but James McClean failed to generate any power on the back-post header.
As the last quarter approached, Ireland regained the lead in somewhat fortunate circumstances. A mishit shot by James McCarthy fell to Jon Walters, who unintentionally set up James McClean to place a shot in to the bottom corner from 10 yards out.
The second goal visibly sucked the life from the home side and five minutes later, Ireland extended their lead. Clever play from Wes Hoolahan set Seamus Coleman away on the right and his cross was converted by McClean for his second goal of the game.
After the third goal, the game petered out as Ireland enjoyed a lot of possession without creating many opportunities. The Irish support were in full voice as the team gained a valuable three points in their quest to qualify from this tough group.
Moldova: Nicholai Calancea, Vitaliy Bordian, Veasieslav Posmac, Igor Armas (Victor Golovatenco 35), Vadim Bolohan, , Alexsandr Gatcan, Andrei Cojocari, Eugen Zasavitci (Eugenia Cebotaru 61), Gheorghre Andronic (Eugen Sidorenco 83), Alexandru Dedov, Igor Bugaev.
Subs Not Used: IIie Cebanu, Radu Ginsari, Alexandru Epureanu, Catalin Carp,Maxim Mikaliov, Stanislav Namasco, Petru Racu, Vlatislav Ivanov.
Booked: Andrei Cojocari (80), Igor Bugaev (88), Alexandru Dedov (90), Alexandr Gatcan (90).
Sent off: None
Republic of Ireland: Darren Randolph, Seamus Coleman, Ciaran Clark, Shane Duffy, Stephan Ward, Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy (David Meyler 80), Wes Hoolahan (Eunan O’Kane 86), Jonathan Walters, James McClean, Shane Long (Callum O’Dowda 62).
Subs Not Used: John O’Shea, Richard Keogh, Paul McShane, Alex Pearce, Cyrus Christie, Johnny Hayes.
Booked: Seamus Coleman (49), Jonathan Walters (90).
Sent off: None
Referee: Jakob Kehlet (Denmark)
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Wes Hoolahan
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