WELL YOU WOULD have to say that this was a football game that definitely happened, faithfully answering the demands of our capitalist Gods in Nyon that it must happen.
The game fittingly finished goalless, although Ireland deserved to win after a soporific start. They would have had Troy Parrott not cooled off in front of goal, missing one presentable chance and denied once by the opposition ‘keeper and twice by the offside flag. Ireland’s second-half momentum was then interrupted by an epic series of substitutions, but they raised a late gallop amid bafflingly long added time, only to be ultimately denied.
The football team of Samuel Beckett’s homeland has lately been trafficking in the kind of mystifying bleakness with which the man himself would be proud, but Uefa conspired in the staging of this cruel nonsense, forcing the two beaten play-off teams to play against each other to fulfil the terms of their TV deal. Call this the Existing Contractual Obligations Derby.
The game was of course a sell-out but the turnout was more than respectable: a handful shy of 40,000, many of whom wished to act as balm for the players’ Prague wounds, and some of whom were kids eager to catch a glimpse of the now-famous Troy Parrott.
But from kick-off the atmosphere fell into that odd, lifeless rustle of a thousand discrete conversations, conducted to distract those who felt compelled to be here from what was – or was not – happening on the pitch.
Hallgrimsson only made three changes – Jason Knight, John Egan, and Liam Scales in for Jack Taylor, Jake O’Brien, and Ryan Manning – in the hope his settled team would chase the bitter poison of Prague with something sweet. He also largely replicated the approach the last time his players were here. But while it was noble and ultimately brilliant to sit deep and counter against Portugal, it is much less so to do the same against a demoralised North Macedonia.
The first half was a spectacle befitting the occasion, as Ireland sat deep in their 5-4-1 waiting for North Macedonia to blunder into them and provide a counter-attacking opportunity. This was as high octane as it sounds, and the main event of all of this was the fact the Czechs took the lead against Denmark to deepen our pain.
Some openings did arise for Ireland, most of which resulted in corners from which Ireland won the first contact but didn’t profit from the next phase.
At the half-hour mark, Nathan Collins sent a roar ringing around the slumbering Aviva, perhaps amplifying a message from the bench. GET HIGH! GET HIGH!
Advertisement
Ireland thus stepped up the pitch and almost instantly profited, with Azaz unlucky not to intercept a skewed pass in the Macedonian box. Troy Parrott sparked into life, chopping in onto his left foot to shank a shot well wide. A couple of minutes later Dark Velkovski got himself in a muddle and presented the ball to Parrott in front of goal, but he sliced his first-time shot wide. Just as Irish fans had realised their hearts were beating again, they hopped into their mouths with Parrott left crumpled on the turf and clutching his knee after an ignorant challenge by Imran Fetai.
He was happily able to continue after treatment, promptly putting the ball in the net twice, denied as often by the offside flag. The first was an outrageous dink from the top of the box from a position admittedly miles offside; the second was much tighter, knifing the ball beyond the goalkeeper having been slid through by Azaz.
Parrott is denied by the linesman. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Azaz drifted into central areas from the left throughout the game but Ireland’s midfield were much too slow to pick him out: he bawled out Molumby early in the game for failing to zip the ball into his feet, instead shuffling the ball slowly out to the right wing.
Ireland remained on the front foot after the break, swarming their opposition. Azaz and Parrott linked up neatly, with the latter spinning and seeing a shot palmed onto the post having been craftily picked out by the former.
Hallgrimsson decided to shake out his bench on the hour mark, introducing debutants Bosun Lawal and James Abankwah along with Mark Travers and Harvey Vale. Seamus Coleman was among the players to make way, with the crowd rising in acclamation and chanting his name as he sat on the bench. If this is the end – and there’s little suggestion it will be, frankly – then it was recorded in as indulgent a manner as the attention-allergic Coleman will ever allow.
The substitutions stymied the flow of the game, and the next ovation came for Parrott, withdrawn for Adam Idah with 20 minutes remaining, with the crowd rising in appreciation of his recent miracles. Ireland’s best successor to Robbie Keane has emerged, and it’s pretty much the guy we thought it would be five years ago.
The game then spun out into a very pure kind of nothingness, with Abankwah sadly forced to limp gingerly off only 20 minutes into his debut.
While the closing stages were simply a series of injuries and long bouts of medical attention, our gods had one last by-the-book-small-print cruelty to inflict upon us all, with the fourth official decreeing seven added minutes. The sheer dark comedy of this sparked the game into lie somewhat: Knight recovered well to snuff out a promising Macedonian counter, while substitute Johnny Kenny was flattened after some sweet interplay between Adam Idah and Vale. The resulting free-kick was slammed into the wall.
Idah then produced another delicious backheel in the box for Kenny, who steadied himself before shooting right at the goalkeeper. The goal never came.
The whole occasion was as you might expect: a warm and banal reunion between players and fans at the end of a qualifying campaign that was anything but. It is a series of games on which Hallgrimsson and his players can build, and there parts of this game – especially the first half hour – to show the necessity to build ahead of our hosting of Euro 2028. But with the chosen 48 off to first enjoy a World Cup without us, that feels a long, long way away.
What’s that Beckett gag in Endgame?
“Do you believe in the life to come?”, asks Clov of Hamm, who replies, “Mine was always that.”
Yes, after those months of urgent, present-tense living, this team and its legion of reinvigorated fans are back yet again waiting for life to begin some time in the distant future.
We are back again to waiting…and waiting…and waiting…
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher (Mark Travers, 60′); Seamus Coleman (James Abankwah, 60′, Alan Browne, 83′), John Egan, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Liam Scales; Jayson Molumby (Bosun Lawal, 60′), Jason Knight; Chiedozie Ogbene (Johnny Kenny, 83′), Finn Azaz (Harvey Vale, 60′); Troy Parrott (Adam Idah, 72′)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
21 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Ireland's cruel and pointless friendly with North Macedonia finishes goalless
Republic of Ireland 0
North Macedonia 0
WELL YOU WOULD have to say that this was a football game that definitely happened, faithfully answering the demands of our capitalist Gods in Nyon that it must happen.
The game fittingly finished goalless, although Ireland deserved to win after a soporific start. They would have had Troy Parrott not cooled off in front of goal, missing one presentable chance and denied once by the opposition ‘keeper and twice by the offside flag. Ireland’s second-half momentum was then interrupted by an epic series of substitutions, but they raised a late gallop amid bafflingly long added time, only to be ultimately denied.
The football team of Samuel Beckett’s homeland has lately been trafficking in the kind of mystifying bleakness with which the man himself would be proud, but Uefa conspired in the staging of this cruel nonsense, forcing the two beaten play-off teams to play against each other to fulfil the terms of their TV deal. Call this the Existing Contractual Obligations Derby.
The game was of course a sell-out but the turnout was more than respectable: a handful shy of 40,000, many of whom wished to act as balm for the players’ Prague wounds, and some of whom were kids eager to catch a glimpse of the now-famous Troy Parrott.
But from kick-off the atmosphere fell into that odd, lifeless rustle of a thousand discrete conversations, conducted to distract those who felt compelled to be here from what was – or was not – happening on the pitch.
Hallgrimsson only made three changes – Jason Knight, John Egan, and Liam Scales in for Jack Taylor, Jake O’Brien, and Ryan Manning – in the hope his settled team would chase the bitter poison of Prague with something sweet. He also largely replicated the approach the last time his players were here. But while it was noble and ultimately brilliant to sit deep and counter against Portugal, it is much less so to do the same against a demoralised North Macedonia.
The first half was a spectacle befitting the occasion, as Ireland sat deep in their 5-4-1 waiting for North Macedonia to blunder into them and provide a counter-attacking opportunity. This was as high octane as it sounds, and the main event of all of this was the fact the Czechs took the lead against Denmark to deepen our pain.
Some openings did arise for Ireland, most of which resulted in corners from which Ireland won the first contact but didn’t profit from the next phase.
At the half-hour mark, Nathan Collins sent a roar ringing around the slumbering Aviva, perhaps amplifying a message from the bench. GET HIGH! GET HIGH!
Ireland thus stepped up the pitch and almost instantly profited, with Azaz unlucky not to intercept a skewed pass in the Macedonian box. Troy Parrott sparked into life, chopping in onto his left foot to shank a shot well wide. A couple of minutes later Dark Velkovski got himself in a muddle and presented the ball to Parrott in front of goal, but he sliced his first-time shot wide. Just as Irish fans had realised their hearts were beating again, they hopped into their mouths with Parrott left crumpled on the turf and clutching his knee after an ignorant challenge by Imran Fetai.
He was happily able to continue after treatment, promptly putting the ball in the net twice, denied as often by the offside flag. The first was an outrageous dink from the top of the box from a position admittedly miles offside; the second was much tighter, knifing the ball beyond the goalkeeper having been slid through by Azaz.
Azaz drifted into central areas from the left throughout the game but Ireland’s midfield were much too slow to pick him out: he bawled out Molumby early in the game for failing to zip the ball into his feet, instead shuffling the ball slowly out to the right wing.
Ireland remained on the front foot after the break, swarming their opposition. Azaz and Parrott linked up neatly, with the latter spinning and seeing a shot palmed onto the post having been craftily picked out by the former.
Hallgrimsson decided to shake out his bench on the hour mark, introducing debutants Bosun Lawal and James Abankwah along with Mark Travers and Harvey Vale. Seamus Coleman was among the players to make way, with the crowd rising in acclamation and chanting his name as he sat on the bench. If this is the end – and there’s little suggestion it will be, frankly – then it was recorded in as indulgent a manner as the attention-allergic Coleman will ever allow.
The substitutions stymied the flow of the game, and the next ovation came for Parrott, withdrawn for Adam Idah with 20 minutes remaining, with the crowd rising in appreciation of his recent miracles. Ireland’s best successor to Robbie Keane has emerged, and it’s pretty much the guy we thought it would be five years ago.
The game then spun out into a very pure kind of nothingness, with Abankwah sadly forced to limp gingerly off only 20 minutes into his debut.
While the closing stages were simply a series of injuries and long bouts of medical attention, our gods had one last by-the-book-small-print cruelty to inflict upon us all, with the fourth official decreeing seven added minutes. The sheer dark comedy of this sparked the game into lie somewhat: Knight recovered well to snuff out a promising Macedonian counter, while substitute Johnny Kenny was flattened after some sweet interplay between Adam Idah and Vale. The resulting free-kick was slammed into the wall.
Idah then produced another delicious backheel in the box for Kenny, who steadied himself before shooting right at the goalkeeper. The goal never came.
The whole occasion was as you might expect: a warm and banal reunion between players and fans at the end of a qualifying campaign that was anything but. It is a series of games on which Hallgrimsson and his players can build, and there parts of this game – especially the first half hour – to show the necessity to build ahead of our hosting of Euro 2028. But with the chosen 48 off to first enjoy a World Cup without us, that feels a long, long way away.
What’s that Beckett gag in Endgame?
“Do you believe in the life to come?”, asks Clov of Hamm, who replies, “Mine was always that.”
Yes, after those months of urgent, present-tense living, this team and its legion of reinvigorated fans are back yet again waiting for life to begin some time in the distant future.
We are back again to waiting…and waiting…and waiting…
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher (Mark Travers, 60′); Seamus Coleman (James Abankwah, 60′, Alan Browne, 83′), John Egan, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Liam Scales; Jayson Molumby (Bosun Lawal, 60′), Jason Knight; Chiedozie Ogbene (Johnny Kenny, 83′), Finn Azaz (Harvey Vale, 60′); Troy Parrott (Adam Idah, 72′)
North Macedonia: Stole Dimitrievski; Darko Churlinov, Gjoko Zajkov, Darko Velkovski (Nikola Serafimov, HT), Imran Fetai (Visar Musliu, 65′); Sebastijan Herera; Tihomir Kostadinov (Boban Nikolov, 60′), Isnik Alimi Ljupco Doriev, 60′); Enis Bardhi (Milan Ristovski, HT) Eljif Elmas (Reshat Ramdani, 60′); Elmin Rastoder (Daniel Musovski, HT)
Referee: Iwan Arwel Griffith
Attendance: 39,560
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
International Friendly north macedonia Republic Of Ireland the sad postscript