Jamie McGrath’s big night

QUITE THE ARENA for a competitive debut for Jamie McGrath then, though fears he may struggle with the step up from St Mirren were unfounded. 

Most obviously, it was McGrath who delivered the corner from which Ireland scored, but he was hugely effective in allowing Ireland play out from the back under pressure from Portuguese players, thereby creating space for an Ireland counter attack. 

Here’s a typical example from the first-half. McGrath drops deep to take the ball from Duffy, and, under pressure from a Portuguese defender, lays the ball off to Jeff Hendrick, whose  first-time pass is held up by Adam Idah.

McGrath is quickly on his feet and sprinting forward in support with Dara O’Shea to take the return pass from Idah.

O’Shea ultimately takes the pass, and McGrath then runs a smart line out wide, doing just enough to force Portugal left-back Raphael Guerreiro to pause for a split-second. 

O’Shea ultimately clips the ball through for Seamus Coleman, and Guerreiro can’t quite cut it out owing to the split-second he lost worrying about McGrath. 

Coleman controlled the ball superbly, drove into the penalty area and won Ireland’s first corner of the game. 

McGrath kept very wide when Ireland had the ball, allowing Coleman make the driving, diagonal runs into the penalty area which were a feature of his performance. 

We discussed in March how miserably Ireland struggled to play out from the back when pressed against Luxembourg, but McGrath helped alleviate many of those issues in Faro.

McGrath’s defensive work was terrific too, slotting in at right wing-back when Ireland spent a few minutes with 10 men as Andrew Omobamidele waited to replace the injured Dara O’Shea.

Kenny’s methodical attack 

Whenever Ireland attacked in the couple of years prior to Kenny’s taking over – and they occasionally did – it was often quite, eh, free-form, consisting largely.of slinging the ball into the box and hoping it would bounce in the right direction. 

Kenny definitely has Ireland attacking with more thought.

Below is a good example. Under previous managers, you would expect James McClean to take a pretty low-percentage cross from this position, and try to pick out Idah in the box. 

This time, however, he stops, checks back, and tries to get himself beyond the Portuguese defenders and in a better crossing position by playing a one-two with Josh Cullen which, unfortunately, is blocked away before it can land for McClean in the space ahead of him. 

Fernando Santos spoke of Ireland’s threat on the counter-attack ahead of the game, and we saw a few crafted examples last night. 

The McGrath/Coleman one above is one example, as is this more straightforward instance involving Aaron Connolly and Josh Cullen.

Connolly drops deep to draw Cancelo out of position, but at no point is Cullen going to give it to his feet: both are on the same wavelength and leave Cancelo for dead. 

It was notable after the game that Kenny described James McClean’s chance just after Portugal equalised as an opportunity to square the ball into the six-yard box for James Collins: if you’ve ever watched any of the videos from Ireland training sessions uploaded to the FAI’s YouTube, you’ll know they regularly practise those exact scenarios.

Ireland did not always stick to their script. 

Ireland’s first-half bravery 

Ireland were brave out of possession too. Look how they squeezed Rui Patricio’s goal kicks in the first half: 

On both occasions, Patricio knocked the ball long and it was easily recovered by Ireland. This set-up is made more comfortable by the fact John Egan was so aggressive in being out in front to win any ball which came his way. (Kenny has described Egan as “critical” to how his team wants to play, and this one of the reasons why.)

This proved a route to a couple of good chances. Just before the 40th minute, for instance, Ireland pressed forward, hemming in Pepe and forcing him into a punt up-field.

This was intercepted by Jeff Hendrick, from where Connolly, Matt Doherty, and Idah all combined for a slick move that ended with Connolly cutting inside to take Idah’s neat lay-off and shooting lamely over the crossbar. 

Ireland were unable to maintain that press in the second-half, however, as they grew tired and Portugal upped the tempo. 

Portugal’s change of approach

Portugal started with a collection of superstar attackers, thrown together in a 4-1-4-1 formation and then spent the first half trying to play through Ireland.

They had very little success in doing so, with Ireland flooding the centre of the pitch with bodies and forcing them wide. At half-time, Portugal decided to play the cards Ireland had dealt with them and laid siege.

Portugal recorded a scarcely-believable 52 crosses last night, with 38 of them in the second half. (For some context: the Netherlands led the way in the average number of crosses per game in the qualification campaign prior to last night, with 30.)

Santos introduced Andre Silva at half-time to better occupy Ireland but chiefly to allow Ronaldo to pull to the left, and take his chances against the smallest (Coleman) and most inexperienced (Omobamidele) members of the Irish back five. 

This meant their gameplan was effectively to get the ball on the right wing and hang crosses to the back post. Pretty rudimentary stuff, but coaches can afford to lack creativity when they have Cristiano Ronaldo in the penalty area. 

This put extra stress on Matt Doherty, who delivered his best-ever performance for Ireland in spite of struggling with illness throughout the second half. It can be hard to distinguish between fatigue and Doherty’s naturally languid style, but he did benefit from the added energy of James McClean in front of him when Connolly was substituted. 

Ultimately, Ronaldo and Portugal found their way thorough, though ironically after they substituted their second-half playmaker Cancelo in the 83rd minute. Santos introduced even more width, matching Ireland’s wing-back system by putting Goncalo Guedes at right wing-back. 

Guedes’ positioning and Portugal’s relentlessness eventually broke Ireland’s resistance. 

It was Guedes who crossed for Ronaldo’s equaliser, and he played a part in the winning goal, along with another highly influential Portuguese substitute, Joao Mario.

The winning goal owed as much to Ireland’s fatigue as much as anything else. 

Doherty follows Guedes’ run to the sideline, leaving space for Joao Mario behind him, with an exhausted Cullen unable to track him…

Jeff Hendrick then does brilliantly to read Joao Mario’s cross, but – again, perhaps through fatigue – he just can’t get enough on his clearance. 

The ball breaks back for Joao Mario, who crosses to the back post for Ronaldo and, well, you know the rest.