Most previews to this play-off reflected the paradox to which players and fans from many small nations are prone. In the Republic of Ireland’s last home match, against the world champions, Germany, the scale of the challenge simplified the buildup; here, having Robbie Brady’s away goal and the knowledge that Bosnia-Herzegovina were eminently beatable meant the size of the opportunity set nerves twanging. Failure could be disappointingly understandable but not glorious.
Martin O’Neill had at least tried to bring clarity to his team’s approach, trumpeting beforehand Ireland’s intention to attack rather than rest on a precarious away goal advantage. However, with a starting XI who boasted a grand total of 18 international goals between them – whereas just one of Bosnia’s strikers, Eden Dzeko, had 45 – no one was expecting the hosts to blow the visitors away. Everyone knew Bosnia would have long bouts of possession. This, then, was going to be another engrossing maelstrom, a match in which the overriding feature of O’Neill’s two-year tenure – his team’s tenacity – would again be key. No one has personified that better than Jon Walters.
Four years ago in the play-off against Estonia, Giovanni Trappatoni’s decision to start the Stoke City striker came as a slight surprise. Walters crowned a fine performance that night with a goal and since then, especially under O’Neill, he has become the emblem of his country’s style.
Infectiously Rambunctious could be a decent band name, it is definitely an apt description of Walters. He hurtles around the pitch relentlessly, covering more grass than an incontinent bull, appalling defenders and inspiring team-mates. Bosnia’s defence, who had been jittery in the first leg, must have been dreading Walters’ return as much as the Irish were looking forward to it.
Asmir Begovic knows all about Walters. When asked beforehand what to expect from the striker with whom he used to play at Stoke, the goalkeeper smirked, as if recalling the dressing room quips for which Walters is also known. Their clash of wits after the referee Bjorn Kuipers awarded a penalty in the 24th minute would be fascinating.
The decision to give the spot-kick was too severe – the only way the defender could have avoided handling Daryl Murphy’s close-range cross would be to put his arms behind his back, assuming the most unnatural position possible Ireland, however, were not about to dwell on the moral implications of accepting a preposterous handball decision in a play-off after all that Thierry Henry hullabaloo six years ago.
Walters had proved when converting a penalty away to Poland that while he disturbs defenders he himself remains splendidly composed, and he gave a further demonstration here, adding a mischievous touch that Begovic would have recognised – too late – by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot.
Begovic had been the only cool head in the Bosnian backline and had saved his team several times by pouncing on crosses as Ireland showed more incision than the visitors even though Wes Hoolahan was having an off day.
It was fitting that many of Ireland’s attacks came through Brady and Jeff Hendrick, players who have been colluding on pitches since they were 12-year-olds at St Kevin’s Boys, a schoolboy club in north Dublin. Their blossoming into accomplished performers on the international stage has been another big plus of this campaign.
Hendrick, whose contributions include a pair of fine assists against Germany, has used the confidence gained from his displays for his country to enhance his club form and grow more important to Derby County. Brady came of age with his goal in Zenica in the first leg and here he reverted to left-back, a position to which he has brought valuable enterprise. Unlike in the first leg, when Edin Visca tormented Stephen Ward, Bosnia’s dangerous right-winger was forced to spend much of his time in Dublin chasing backwards. Visca managed to skip round Brady only once in Dublin, in the 53rd minute, and Senad Lulic fluffed the ensuing shot.
Brady and Walters combined for the goal that clinched a deserved victory, Ognjen Vranjes unable to clear the former’s wickedly flighted freekick, instead diverting it to the ubiquitous Walters, who finished emphatically.
Now he is a double-digit international goalscorer.
James McCarthy, the midfielder who is gradually silencing his critics, was one of the reasons why Bosnia failed to deploy their much-vaunted firepower as Ireland kept Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic quiet. For that, too, O’Neill and his team deserve a cheer. Ireland do not have the quality of Germany or Poland, the teams who finished above them in the group stages, but an expanded European Championship is not just about players such as Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski. It has plenty of room for Walters.
