- Macdara Ferris
- Wed, Sep 01 2021
It inevitably was always going to be about Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar did break the international goalscoring record in Faro but he did so only by breaking Ireland's hearts and resolve after a magnificant battling performance by the Boys in Green.
However nobody could have written that Ronaldo would need to score twice to win the game by overturning the lead that Ireland carried into the last minute of the match.
Gavin Bazunu had thwarted him twice from set pieces – saving his 15th minute penalty and a free kick a minute from time – and yet the returning Manchester United player got a late headed equaliser to break the all-time scoring record in senior men’s international football.
Then, cruelly from an Ireland perspective, in the sixth minute of injury time headed home the winner – his 111th international goal.
The results earlier in the qualification meant that most had given up on Ireland’s chances of qualification for the Qatar World Cup but John Egan’s late first half goal had put the Boys in Green back in the qualification hunt it seemed.
It is, of course, the hope that kills you though.
Having said that there was so much positives to take from the performance of Stephen Kenny’s side, having had to deal with a positive of a kind they didn’t need before the game with Shane Long falling foul of a COVID-19 test.
Bazunu misjudged a pass to Jeff Hendrick after a quarter of an hour and the Newcastle United player took down Bruno Fernandez. The pernickety Slovenia referee gave Hendrick a yellow and awarded the hosts a penalty that was eventually confirmed by VAR.
The Portuguese number 7 stepped up but he wasn’t to score his record breaking goal at this stage from 12 yards as Bazunu dived to his right to superbly push away the effort.
Aaron Connolly and Adam Idah led the line for Ireland really well holding the ball up and Portugal did concede plenty of space. Connolly on a couple of occasions went down in the box looking for a penalty of his own but Ireland got no joy from the referee.
At the back Shane Duffy, Dara O’Shea (before going off injured) and John Egan threw their bodies in harms way to tackle, block and harass their opponents.
Just before the bereak Egan got a goal with a brilliant header off a Jamie McGrath corner and celebrated in front of the Irish support behind the goal which included the Corkman’s mum!
There has been so many hard luck stories around the Stephen Kenny era, with COVID-19 affecting so much of team and squad selection. The team deserved that bit of luck to see out the game but it became more back-to-the-walls stuff as the second half went on.
From an Irish perspective time seemed to move more slowly. Ronaldo struck a minute from time and then a minute after the allotted five that the officials had called up for as injury time.
The Irish bodies fell to the floor after the final whistle but they can keep their heads high in how well they performed against such world class opposition but you just can’t keep Ronaldo down as he proved – yet again – the match winner.
Portugal: Rui Patricio; Joao Cancelo (Goncalo Guedes 82), Rúben Dias, Kepler de Lima Ferreira (Pepe), Raphael Guerreiro (Nuno Mendes 62); Bruno Fernandes (Joao Mario Neto Lopes 62), Joao Palhinha (Joao Moutinho 73), Bernardo Silva; Diogo Jota, Cristiano Ronaldo (c), Rafa Silva (André Silva 46).
Subs not used: Diogo Costa, Anthony Lopes, Nelson Semedo, Domingos Duarte, Rúben Neves, Otavio, Danilo.
Booked: None.
Republic of Ireland: Gavin Bazunu; John Egan, Shane Duffy, Dara O'Shea (Andrew Omobamidele 35): Séamus Coleman (c), Jeff Hendrick, Joshua Cullen, Jamie McGrath (Jayson Molumby 90), Matt Doherty,; Aaron Connolly (James McClean 72), Adam Idah (James Collins 90).
Subs not used: James Talbot, Mark Travers, Caoimhin Kelleher, Harry Arter, Conor Hourihane, Daryl Horgan, Ryan Manning, Troy Parrott.
Booked: Jeff Hendrick (10) ,Dara O'Shea (32) ,Aaron Connolly (45) Matt Doherty (56).
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia).
Attendance: 7,500
extratime.com Player of the Match: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
