- Ben Blake reports from Copenhagen
ON THE EVE of Ireland’s first leg against Denmark, looking back at their last involvement in play-offs for a major tournament is inevitable.
This week marks two years since Martin O’Neill’s side travelled to Zenica to take on Bosnia-Herzegovina for a place at Euro 2016.
With the pitch consumed by fog in the second half, Robbie Brady produced a moment of brilliance to score the all-important away goal, that was missed by many in the ground and at home, in a 1-1 draw before the Boys in Green ran out comfortable winners back in Dublin.
The Burnley man — who also provided Ireland’s moment of the tournament in France last year with his late header in the win over Italy — is set to line out in Copenhagen tomorrow night and sat alongside O’Neill for this evening’s pre-match press conference.
“It’s a different squad now,” Brady replied when asked how he and the team have developed over the past two years.
“We had a couple of senior players and head figures who had left, so over the past couple of years it has been good to knit together some of the new lads coming in and we have a strong group of players.
“As for me, I was there a couple of years before the new lads came in, so I’ve just helped them to settle in. We’ve had a decent enough campaign so far, hopefully we can continue that.”
Brady isn’t one of the 10 Irish players on a yellow card heading into the first leg and says there is little point worrying about the possibility of being suspended for the return tie.
“There’s a few going into the game tomorrow on yellow cards but I don’t think you can concentrate too much on that,” he added. “We’ve got a job to do tomorrow night and we’ll get that done first and foremost and go from there.
“If we can avoid picking up any more yellows it will be helpful along the way.”
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