IF FOOTBALL WAS solely about results, Martin O’Neill would have earned top marks for his competitive debut as an international manager.
On the surface, a win away from home is the perfect start to a qualifying campaign. Plus, as Portugal discovered last night, seeing off a nation ranked below you in the FIFA rankings is far from formality.
There were undoubtedly positives to be taken from the 2-1 win over what was admittedly an average Georgia. For starters, the sight of James McCarthy and Stephen Quinn busting a gut to get into the box and support attacks was a welcome change to the Trap days when the midfield pair were instructed not to venture too far upfield by the Italian.
Aiden McGeady’s effectiveness in front of goal was also a significant positive. With just three goals from 69 appearances to his name before last night, the Everton man produced two excellent finishes to hand Ireland what could prove to be a crucial victory.
McGeady is a player who has promised so much for so long. Having made his senior debut as a fresh-faced 18-year-old back in 2004, the Glasgow-born winger’s end product has seen all too rarely in a green jersey over the past decade.
After the final whistle, captain Robbie Keane claimed that McGeady scores goals similar to yesterday’s winner all the time in training and you don’t doubt that. He is arguably the player with the most natural ability in the current squad and his talent has never been in question but that’s precisely why he frustrates fans so much.
The spacial awareness, vision and technical skills McGeady showed to take possession with his back to goal, swivel on the ball and strike it past Roin Kvaskhvadze on the stroke of 90 minutes was world class and a goal which would be heralded worldwide had it been scored by, for instance, Lionel Messi.
Goals aside, McGeady looked extremely sharp at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena and this could yet prove to be his best season yet for both club and country. He has made two starts from Everton’s opening three Premier League games (scoring a stunner against Leicester City), prompting praise from Toffees boss Roberto Martinez.
Ireland’s best chance of the second half prior to the winner also fell to the same player on one of the occasions that he had drifted into a central position from the left flank. That time, the strike sailed over but it does beg the question would he have a greater impact through the middle as a number 10?
It is a position McGeady has had varying degrees of success in when asked to play there in the past at club level with most managers opting to deploy him as an out-and-out winger. At 28, McGeady has the tools and the maturity to thrive in the centre and, with Wes Hoolahan left out, Ireland were crying out for a creative playmaker.
Stephen Quinn got the nod ahead as a surprise selection and the Dubliner performed admirably on his competitive debut but they lacked someone who could drop into little pockets, find space between the lines and show enough guile to unlock the Georgian defence.
James McCarthy, asked to play higher up the pitch than usual with Glenn Whelan screening the defence, did latch onto a flick-on to tee-up McGeady for his first goal with a decisive pass. However, he didn’t do that often enough and would almost certainly have been better used in the role Whelan was tasked with
For so long ignored by Giovanni Trapattoni, Hoolahan finally appeared to be establishing himself at international level under O’Neill over the past ten months. For that reason, the omission from yesterday’s line-up must feel like a knock-back even if the Ireland manager did insist that the Norwich schemer is still very much part of his plans.
O’Neill mentioned the fact that it was an away fixture which suggests Hoolahan has a better chance of featuring in the home games but his constant eagerness to get on the ball and knit the play together is something they missed in Tbilisi.
Robbie Keane is no stranger to the number 10 role but the skipper was completely ineffectual as a lone striker here. He is in the team for his goalscoring exploits but on yesterday’s showing surely a combination of Shane Long with Hoolahan/McGeady in behind would surely have caused the Georgians more problems.
Next up for Ireland is the group’s weakest teams quickly followed by the outright favourites as minnows Gibraltar travel to Dublin next month before Ireland head off to Germany three days later.
The onus will be on the home side to go and attack Gibraltar, beaten 7-0 by Poland last night, at the Aviva Stadium and I for one would like to see Hoolahan or McGeady start ‘in the hole’.
