David Forde — 6: A lonely night for the Ireland number one. Hardly involved bar a few backpasses and couldn’t be faulted for Shomko’s thumping opener.
Seamus Coleman — 6: More adventurous than Wilson on the opposite flank and for long stretches, the only wide outlet in a desperately narrow side. Has to take blame for panicked fresh air that led to Kazakh goal though.
John O’Shea — 8: At the heart of what was a solid defensive performance from the Irish back four. Capped the night with only his second international goal in 93 caps.
Richard Dunne — 7: Kept Kazakh chances to a minimum as Ireland controlled the game. A nuisance at corners, forcing Kislitsyn into soft penalty and then winning header that led to O’Shea goal.
Marc Wilson — 6: Lack of communication with Stokes in build-up to Kazakh goal and not his busiest night in defence otherwise. Very conservative in the first half but got forward more as game wore on.
Darron Gibson — 6: Commanded the game with McCarthy before bad knee injury forced him off in the 36th minute.
James McCarthy — 8: One of Ireland’s best. Wanted to be on the ball directing forward advances, and was just as determined with his pressing and defensive duties when needed.
Andy Reid — 8: Made the most of his first Irish cap since 2008. Easily the biggest threat in the Irish attack with clever link play but could have done with better support for most of the evening. Set piece deliveries led to first two goals. Substituted to standing ovation.
Anthony Stokes — 6: Asked to play out wide again. Was most involved after the break but seemed to lose vital momentum each time he turned back to his favoured right foot, much to the frustration of team-mates. Deserves credit for chasing lost cause in build-up to Ireland’s third.
Kevin Doyle — 6: Same tireless shift that he always puts in but didn’t contribute much otherwise. Kept drifting into middle which made Ireland’s lack of width more obvious.
Robbie Keane — 6: One of his quieter nights but seemed to enjoy playing with Reid in behind him. Scored international goal 61 with cool penalty and was in position to tap in 62 before Shomko robbed him.
Substitutes:
Glenn Whelan (for Gibson, 36’) — 6: Introduced much earlier than expected. Unspectacular but helped keep midfield platform solid.
Aiden McGeady (for Reid, 75’): Lively threat for the final 15 minutes, creating Ireland’s third and nearly a fourth. Could have done with his wide threat earlier.
Wes Hoolahan (for Stokes, 86’): Not on long enough to rate.
Might be jumping the gun a bit but I think Andy Reid showed Trap what he was missing for the past 5 years,but isolated tonight but such a terrific passer and such great vision nonetheless yet wed to endure Whelan/Andrews and their feckin men-tal-leh-teh
At least Andrews tried hard he was Irelands best player at the euros
I get what your saying Luke but i think ‘trying hard’ should be the general requirement anyway
Lets just pretend this qualifying campaign never happened.
Also why does Noel King break his Sh*te laughing any time a question is put to him?
Northsiders, think they’re funny all the time
Nervous
Neol king is a plonker…
Why because he stood up to personal attacks by the rte panel( who mostly have outdated views on football tactics)
A manager a senior level should be able to answer question put to him in a professional manner and be confident with their answer. He wasn’t and was arrogant and a completely immature.
It wasn’t a personal attack though, it was a perfectly reasonable question about tactics/team selection. If anyone was guilty of personal attacks it was King.
I think Dunphy Giles and Saddler have a right cheek ,the two clowns
Giles and Dunphy never proved themselves as managers . The John
boy was a failure and the Eamonn fellow either didn’t get a chance or
else he was too cowardly to try . I thought King did a decent enough
Job and should be able to look back with some satisfaction.
This cat fight on RTE is embarrassing. But funny none the less.
Dumpy is past his sell by date, unless you include sellin books. He was never a good pundit even if he is entertaining, and John Giles was never as good a player or manager as Dunphy keeps making him out to be.
Giles never a good player?
Ugh re read your comment there. “As good a player”. My bad. Apologies.
Poor Noel king way y y y y Out of his depth
That was as about as riveting as the budget
Actually I enjoyed the budget.
Gotta fix the LOI, Iceland are in the playoff a country smaller than cork county and they have a better league/co efficient than us!
New franchised league & 2 big professional teams in Dublin, like rangers & celtic to spear head the league! And one team per county, its our league thats the problem not enough interest!
Agree with the above comment re years of service …however with years if service he should be well able to handle media …he has gone down in my book
Faroes.
It was fairly obvious after last night why Robbie Keane took a rain check on the Germany game. He wanted to be fresh to score a few handy goals against the Kazakhs to boost his inflated ego and international goal scoring record. His face after the third goal said it all. Instead of being delighted that Ireland had scored he looked at the Kazakh player in disgust for stealing another tap in off his toe.
sake
King would do well in the Faroese
Dunphy and Giles need to be retired; good footballers in their day, but a little out of touch these days.
Scores of 6-8 your having a laugh! It was kasakistan not Germany we were playing! Stokes is a great player against sh1te opposition he shows that every week on this spl, should I go on? Mcgeady! Since 2003 as a winger only has 29 assists. Can’t pass a ball to save his life! Should I go on?
Stokes had a great game against the Germans too you clown. If he had shown a bit more composure he could have had a hatrick but he caused the Germans all kinds of problems.
Composure and ability to pass would make a big difference! He is like watching Saturday football down the park for kids. No placing shots just hit as hard as he can at the goal! Hence the reason for his air shot! If I’m a clown your a troll!