1. O’Neill’s left-field selections
THE IRELAND MANAGER surprised a few with his decision to start Daryl Murphy up front ahead of Shane Long and Robbie Keane.
The system, which saw Ireland play without an out-and-out left winger, did the trick in the first half as the home side worked hard to press, won the midfield battle and took a deserved lead — albeit from an offside position.
Buoyed by their goal shortly after the restart, Scotland came into the game more in the second half but Ireland continued to pour forward, without creating many clear-cut chances.
Keane and Long were both thrown on in closing minutes and while Murphy, who scored 27 goals for Championship club Ipswich Town last season, held up the ball well, he has yet to find the back of the net in a green shirt.
Was it the right choice to name him in the starting line-up?
2. The luck goes both ways
This Ireland team don’t score too many goals, so Robbie Brady’s set-pieces are always going to be important – particularly in tight games. It was his corner in the latter stages of the first half which found Murphy, and Jon Walters followed up to stroke home after David Marshall had saved. Replays, however, showed that the goalscorer was standing in an offside position when the ball fell to him.
There was a slice of luck about Shaun Maloney’s equaliser too. The Chicago Fire attacker, who scored the match-winner in Glasgow, exchanged a neat one-two on the edge of the box with substitute Ikechi Anya and attempted to curl an effort at goal. Ireland were guilty of not shutting the move out but the visitors were fortunate in that Maloney’s wayward shot struck the back of John O’Shea and bounced into the bottom corner.
3. Qualification hopes appear to be dashed
While Ireland aren’t mathematically out of the running for a spot at Euro 2016, they have lost more ground on Group D’s top three teams and the odds are now heavily-stacked against them to earn that play-off place. O’Neill was asked post-match whether he believes they can still qualify and the Ireland boss insisted that his team remain in contention.
A double-header against Gibraltar and Georgia in September is next up before Germany at home in the penultimate group fixture and a trip to Poland. This group of players will battle on to the end (what option do they have?) but there is a real sense that the boat to France for next summer’s finals has already sailed.
What did you make of the game?
