Bulgaria 1
Republic of Ireland 1
EVEN OUR REVOLUTIONS finish 1-1.
Thus the Stephen Kenny era began with the result Irish football is most in love with, secured by…you got it, a Shane Duffy header on a set-piece.
Duffy’s header from Robbie Brady’s corner in stoppage time secured a late point for Ireland, coming after Duffy was part of a much more unfamiliar defensive mishap early in the second half.
The result seals a draw in Kenny’s first game and avoids an opening-day defeat for a second-straight Nations League campaign.
The basic grammar of the game is, of course, almost comically familiar, but there was lots of change between the margins. Ireland had 60% of the ball and made almost twice the number of passes as Bulgaria, a change in approach signalled from the team-sheet.
19-year-old Adam Idah was given a senior debut, with Aaron Connolly picked on the left of the front three and Matt Doherty starting at right-back. With Seamus Coleman on the bench, Duffy took the captain’s armband.
There were several jarring emblems of this change within the first few minutes: Duffy dribbled the ball to the half-way line in the game’s first act, while Darren Randolph did his best Manuel Neuer impression to intercept a through-ball with his head and then proceeded to pass the ball backwards to a defender.
Welcome to the new normal.
Kenny also wanted to have his players play with confidence, which Connolly showed in spurning Ireland’s best chance of the first half. He pounced on a pitiful pass on the edge of the Bulgarian penalty area, nutmegged a defender, and then bent an ambitious effort around the far post from a forbiddingly tight angle.
Idah’s hold-up play was exceptional, which went somewhat rewarded with Ireland eager to get players close to him: a deft early lay-off saw Hourihane skew a volley wide from distance.
While Ireland had the bulk of first-half possession, there were improvements to be seen without it, and were much less easy to play through in midfield than had been the case last year.
Until they weren’t.
After Conor Hourihane sloppily gave the ball away in midfield, Nedelev shucked off McCarthy too easily and slid the ball through a chasm between the Irish centre-backs for Bozhidar Kraev, who rifled the ball through Randolph’s legs.
It was a dreadful goal to concede, and Randolph’s disbelieving look from the turf told more than a thousand words.
Connolly, Ireland’s most dangerous player all night, almost carved out an immediate equaliser, driving to the endline and fizzing a low cross that narrowly evaded everyone.
James McCarthy was heralded by Kenny in the build-up but he was underwhelming tonight, replaced by Brady with 20 minutes to go. Callum O’Dowda, meanwhile, made way moments later, having again flitted gracefully around the margins of the game without making any true impact.
Idah, who had a better night without getting a sight of goal either, made way for Shane Long.
Bulgaria declared at 1-0, and so flooded nine men between the Irish attack and their own goal. Perhaps in loyalty to their manager’s demands, Ireland continued to try and stitch passes together on the edge of the box rather than have full-backs Stevens and Doherty sling balls into the box.
That said, the result was saved on a set-piece. Kenny’s pressing demands were met by Brady who forced the late corner, which he then swung on top of Duffy’s head, who repeated his old trick.
Ireland deserved a result from a game in which progress was made without losing a couple of the old verities.
Bulgaria: Georgi Georgiev; Strahil Popov, Petar Zanev (captain) (Plamen Galabov, 79′), Kristian Dimitrov, Anton Nedyalkov; Georgi Kostadinov, Kristiyan Malinov; Spas Delev (Birsent Karagaren 77′), Bozhidar Kraev, Galin Ivanov, Todor Nedelev (Aleksander Tsetkov
Republic of Ireland: Darren Randolph; Matt Doherty, Shane Duffy, John Egan, Enda Stevens; James McCarthy (Robbie Brady, 70′), Jeff Hendrick, Conor Hourihane; Callum O’Dowda (Callum Robinson 74′), Adam Idah (Shane Long, 78′), Aaron Connolly
Referee: Manuel Schuettengruber (Austria)