Republic of Ireland U21s 3
San Marino U21s 0
THIS WAS ROUTINE if not merciless from Jim Crawford’s U21s, who sailed past San Marino with ease at Turner’s Cross to go two for two from their Euro qualification campaign’s start.
Last Friday’s win over Turkey was fraught and thrilling but this, unsurprisingly, was its calm and frictionless opposite. Ireland took an early lead through Rocco Vata and then doubled it through the same player in first-half stoppage time, spurning a series of chances and thwarted by a bewilderingly non-interventionist referee in the mean-time. Sinclair Armstrong, returning after his senior debut on Sunday, then pounced on a comical defensive error in the second half to round out the scoring at 3-0.
Stephen Kenny, now haunted by a seemingly irresistible amount of pressure, was among the crowd at Turner’s Cross, sitting alongside his assistant Keith Andrews. FAI president Gerry McAnaney was present too, although there was no sign of CEO Jonathan Hill or Director of Football Marc Canham, both of whom will address Kenny’s position at a media briefing on Thursday. The backing of his bosses may have waned but Kenny has by no means lost all support: he was besieged for selfies as he made his way back to his seat for the second-half.
Sinclair Armstrong was another who swapped the Aviva on Sunday for Cork tonight, leading the line having made his senior debut in the final minutes against the Netherlands. Ireland played a 4-2-3-1, with captain Andrew Moran floating as a pure No.10 and flanked by Rocco Vata and Tony Spriggett.
San Marino played a flat back five but Ireland drove a series of wrecking balls through it, Moran and Armstrong finding space with clever diagonal runs between the centre backs. Armstrong was first to find this space, played in one-on-one down the left wing, but couldn’t quite lift his shot sufficiently over the splayed goalkeeper. Vata’s follow-up was also blocked.
The opening goal came about a minute later. Again Armstrong chased a pass in behind, – this time from man-of-the-match Matt Healy – and pulled the ball across from the endline for Vata, who slammed the ball in from close range.
That the opening goal came after only eight minutes hinted at a deluge that did not come. Ireland’s passing was occasionally sloppy and their finishing awry: Armstrong back-heeled a Healy snapshot agonisingly wide from close to the goal-line, while Armstrong then sent a point-blank header glancing agonisingly wide from Vata’s cross. Meanwhile, centre-back Bosun Lawal – among Ireland’s best performers – sent a header from a corner over the bar, while Moran’s snap volley from the edge of the box whistled narrowly over the crossbar.
Ireland were untroubled defensively, of course, though goalkeeper Josh Keeley endured a scare when he dallied over the ball and was closed down by San Marino forward Simone Santi. The ball happily bounced away from goal, and was mopped up by James Abankwah. The second goal was ultimately reserved for the first half’s final moment. First Healy’s curling effort from outside the box was pushed over the bar by goalkeeper Pietro Amici. Healy then took the corner short to Vata, who swept into the box and hammered a shot into the net, via an admittedly pitiful effort to save it.
Armstrong resumed his search for a goal after the break, nutmegging defender Matteoni and then having his jersey pulled to the point it ripped. The Andorran referee was bizarrely unmoved by San Marino’s prodigious shirt-pulling all night – perhaps he was exhibiting the empathy of the international minnow – so Armstrong had to carry on and thud a shot into the side-netting. Karma swung around a few minutes later.
Armstrong’s ripped shirt flapped in the wind as he chased a pass in behind by Moran. The pass was overhit and was heading into the arms of the goalkeeper until Matteoni, running back toward goal, swiped at the ball and garryowened it over his ‘keeper. He was spared at least some ignominy by the fact Armstrong chased the ball and chested it over the line to claim a deserved goal.
Jim Crawford emptied his bench for the endgame, with Aidomo Emakhu and Zak Gilsenan the most impressive of the cameos. Emakhu twice went close but saw his penalty-box shots blocked, and the game wended to a polite end.
A perfect start, albeit with far stiffer tests ahead.
Republic of Ireland U21s: Josh Keeley; Sam Curtis, James Abankwah, Bosun Lawal, James Furlong; Matthew Healy (Ed McJannet, 78′), Babajide Adeeko (Killian Phillips, 68′); Rocco Vata (Zak Gilsenan, 68′), Andy Moran, Tony Springett (Aidomo Emakhu, 68′); Sinclair Armstrong (Conor Carty, 79′)
San Marino U21: Pietro Amici; Simone Giocondi (Matteo Guidi, 70′); Alessandro Giambalvo (Nicola D’Addario, 70′), Mattia Sancisi, Giacomo Matteoni; Andrea Contadini; Alex Toccaceli, Samuele Zannoni, Nicko Sensoli (Nicolo Sancisi, 58′); Simone Santi, Tommaso Famigletti
Referee: Antoine Chiaramonti (Andorra)
Attendance: 3826