THE GROUP D table makes for pretty nice viewing this morning, and Ireland will carry the momentum of an unprecedented start to World Cup qualification into the winter break.
Martin O’Neill’s side secured a famous victory in Vienna last night to sit in pole position after four games played, leading Serbia by two points and Wales by four.
Wes Hoolahan’s gorgeous through-ball allowed James McClean to race clear of the Austrian defence and score the only goal of the game at the Ernst Happel Stadion.
The result means Austria are left with a mountain to climb if they are to harbour realistic hopes of qualifying for Russia while Ireland find themselves in a great position heading into 2017.
“It’s a good result. We dug deep, they’re a good side, we’re delighted with the three points,” Shane Duffy said afterwards.
“It’s a good start. There is a still a long way to go but it’s a good start for us. It’s a tough place to come, not many teams will come here and beat them. We take it on to March now and another massive game.
“We were confident as always, we know we’re hard team to beat. The first half, we were not really at it but the second half we were the better team.
“It’s enjoyable to come in and everyone wants wants to win and wants to play for the manager, it’s a good feeling when you have that. Everyone wants to play. Hopefully come March, we’ll be fit and ready.”
Ireland’s next assignment comes in the form of Chris Coleman’s Wales, who visit the Aviva Stadium on Friday 24 March.
Two friendlies against Iceland and Uruguay follow before O’Neill’s charges continue their campaign against Austria in Dublin on Sunday 11 June.
Duffy’s partnership with Ciaran Clark in central defence has played a significant role in Ireland’s encouraging start with yesterday’s cleansheet the second in four games this campaign.
“Yeah, it should be three clean sheets,” Duffy added. It was obviously a stupid goal [against Moldova]. I enjoy playing alongside him [Clark] and the more we play, the better we’ll become. We’re quite similar, we like to defend, and that’s what we’re in there for.”
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