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The Irish team line up prior to tonight's friendly. Tommy Dickson/INPHO
Opinion

Player ratings: How the Boys in Green fared against Northern Ireland

Martin O’Neill’s side produced an uninspired display against the North tonight.

Darren Randolph: Made a good save to deny Gavin Whyte after 14 minutes, but nervously parried away one innocuous cross in the second half. However, he then redeemed himself shortly thereafter with an excellent stop to deny Jordan Jones. 7

Darragh Lenihan: Looked nervy on his first Ireland start. Was booked for a clumsy foul on George Saville. Gave the ball away cheaply allowing Northern Ireland to counter-attack in the first half and was badly caught in possession with 19 minutes remaining, as Jordan Jones failed to convert when one-on-one with Randolph. On the plus side, he kept a clean sheet. 5

John Egan: Looked composed and did the basics well, though was rarely seriously tested. 7

Shane Duffy: Went close with one first-half header from a Robbie Brady free kick and led the defensive line well. 7

Seamus Coleman: Had the odd promising run down the right and defended well when he had to, but you still feel like he can offer more. 6

Robbie Brady: Delivered a couple of well-executed set pieces and produced some clever passes, but there were also long spells where he was quiet. 6

Glenn Whelan: Played a couple of nice passes and had one tenacious tackle before being replaced by Conor Hourihane after 36 minutes. 6

Jeff Hendrick: Covered well defensively at times, but gave away a sloppy free kick on the edge of the area at one stage and his tendency to disappear from games was evident again. 5

Callum O’Dowda: Had one decent run where he won a free kick, but was largely anonymous otherwise, before being replaced by Ronan Curtis at half-time. 5

James McClean: Worked hard but not much came off for McClean on the rare occasions he got forward, before being replaced by Enda Stevens on 66 minutes. 5

Callum Robinson: Involved in some decent hold-up play, but had to feed off scraps and consequently could not make much of an impact. Replaced by Sean Mauire after 66 minutes. 6

Martin O’Neill: His team looked frustratingly lifeless, unimaginative and disorganised too often tonight and while the players should not escape criticism, he deserves some of the blame too for this lacklustre display in which they were second best against a Northern Irish team with an inferior set of players on paper. It was only a friendly, of course, but it’s far from the first time the Republic have looked out of sorts in recent months. 4

Subs: No one really had a significant influence off the bench or really put their hands up for a regular starting berth. 5

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