If ever there was a performance of two halves that was it from Ireland. They were poor in the first half but really came out swinging in the second one and deserved a point. It is not the worst result for Martin O’Neill’s side but you can’t help but feel that his hopes of making Euro 2016 are fairly remote now. Thanks for all the emails and tweets. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, wherever you are. Bye!
Full-time: Ireland 1-1 Poland
And that’s that.
90 + 4 mins Ireland have another corner after some great direct running from McClean. They couldn’t could they? Eh, no. It is totally over hit.
90 + 3 mins There are five added minutes by the way.
The corner was swung deep by Brady. It landed at the head of Hoolahan. He headed it to Long and from a few yards out he bundled it over the line. Another late goal saves Ireland.
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GOAL!!! Ireland 1-1 Poland (Long, 90)
Get! In!
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90 mins McCarthy gets a free-kick. It’s a good 45 yards out. Brady will launch it in. This is last chance saloon. It is swung in and Fabianski, under severe pressure he punches it clear for a corner.
88 mins McClean has been great since he came on but his latest effort at a cross is more horrible than durian. It floats over everyone and goes out for a goalkick to Poland.
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87 mins Kucharczyk is on for Peszko.
86 mins Off the ball, McCarthy puts his hand to Mila. It leads to a lot of handbags and a yellow for McCarthy. Peszko also gets one, presumably for back chat. McCarthy is lucky the ref did not see that or Ireland would be ending the game with 10 men.
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84 mins Couple of subs have come on. Long on for Whelan. Mila on for Milik.
82 mins McClean gets beyond the full back, puts the ball across the box and ... no one is in there to do anything with it. McClean gets another chance down the left. He puts the ball across the box once more and and Keane knocks it back for Coleman. He runs on to it from about 50 yards and wallops it in to row z.
81 mins Any danger of Long getting a chance here?
80 mins A long throw is knocked on by Walters. It finds Keane. Keane finds his way into the box. He pulls the ball back for Hoolahan. Hoolahan pulls his leg back and shoots. Olkowski pulls off an incredible block.
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78 mins Ireland work the ball to McClean. But finding that way blocked they try the other side. Coleman gets to the end line and tries a low cross, trying to find Walters. Poland deal with it easily enough.
76 mins Ireland have scored a few late goals in this campaign already so there is no need to abandon hope just yet, fans of O’Neill’s side.
74 mins McClean puts in a huge challenge on Milik. The Polish players are not happy and let him know but it was a perfectly good tackle. Said tackle really gets the crowd going and they burst into a very loud version of Come on You Boys in Green. Given Poland’s weaknesses, McClean should have been on from the start.
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72 mins Coleman storms down the right once more but is stopped in his tracks by Lewandowski. Ireland try the other side and McClean. The Derry native bursts for the end line and sends a good ball to the back post where it finds the head of Keane. Only the width of the post stops Keane from drawing Ireland level.
70 mins Coleman has been looking dangerous all night and has, just now, sent over a decent ball for Walters but he can’t quite connect with it in a way that troubles Fabianski. Elsewhere, Wilson cleans out Lewandowski with what might be termed a crude challenge. He gets a yellow.
68 mins Ireland are really putting the pressure on Poland now. They need to get something from it soon though. They won’t if Hoolahan keeps shooting like this. He has just lamped one well wide. Ireland, meanwhile, make their first sub. Off goes McGeady, on comes McClean.
66 mins From that corner, Wilson rose above everyone and aimed a decent header at goal. A yard either side of Fabianski and Ireland could be level. Instead the header lands right in Fabianski’s lap. Down the other end, Wilson gives away a dangerous free-kick about 35 yards outside the Irish box. Rybus floats it to the back post and Given claims it.
64 mins Glik is back on. Poland try to counter after an Ireland attack but Ireland stop them quickly and work the ball out wide. Brady has a shot blocked on the left and wins a corner. Momentum is with Ireland now.
62 mins “Is it heresy to suggest that Keane be dropped in favour of Long?” asks Lou Roper. “If so, I’ll play Martin Luther.” Keane has been fairly anonymous all right. Long is warming up. Meanwhile, Glik looks to be a lot of pain after scooping the ball away from McGeady.
60 mins ... he fires it over the wall and over the bar. He leant too far back and got too much on it.
58 mins Walters’ strength and determination rattles Szukala and the Irishman wins a free-kick 5 yards outside the D. Szukala goes in the book. Brady steps up ...
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56 mins Ireland pass and pass and pass and pass and win a throw on the right. Coleman take it and tries to find Keane. But the striker, perhaps exhausted from needlessly running down the pitch a few minutes ago, surrenders the ball to the Poles. Ireland could do with a heck of a lot more movement on these throws.
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54 mins Rybus falls on his arse outside the Irish box, under pressure from Keane. (What the Hell is Keane doing there?) Rybus wants something, he gets nothing.
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52 min Ireland attack again. This time down the left with Brady. He swings a cross over and it takes a huge deflection of Olkowski (or Glik, yet to see a replay) before pinging off the crossbar with Fabianski beaten.
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50 mins O’Shea launches it long from the back and Keane is man-handled to the ground by Glik. The referee wasn’t going to give anything but his linesman told him to cop on and so he did. He also gave Glik a yellow card, which means he’ll miss the nect match. Glik, not the referee. Brady stands over the free, which is about 40 yards out on the inside, right channel. It’s another poor ball from him as Poland clear it with ease.
48 mins Lewandowski falls to the ground under a challenge from O’Shea. There is nothing in it but the referee reckons it is a free to Poland. That is sent forward and after a bounce of ball and hearts, Wilson hooks it clear.
46 mins Brady gets some early space on the left and an early chance to get one in the box. For the fist time today, he actually puts a decent ball over, aiming for Walters, but Poland are able to deal with it.
45 mins We are back. No changes to tell you about just yet. Poland kick off, playing right to left. It’s a false start as Milik had gone too early and the referee takes everyone back. Take two goes much better.
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Apparently, Ireland have now gone over 75 minutes of play since their last shot on target. How do you solve that? Bringing Long on, playing him up front with Keane and reverting to a four man midfield?
This just about sums it up:
That is one depressing half. Very little to be optimistic about.
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) March 29, 2015
Half-time: Ireland 0-1 Poland
That’s that for now. Back in a few minutes.
45 mins Coleman commits a take-it-for-the-team foul near the Irish corner flag on the right. He gets a yellow for his troubles. The free-kick is floated in and Whelan gets an important head to it to get rid of it.
44 mins Ireland win a free-kick near the corner of the box on the left. Brady curls it over and Poland curl it out. Ireland send it back in. Walters chests it down and sends it over again. Fabianski comes flapping and Poland clear it again. Ireland send it in once more. This time McGeady gets it down, dances past a few Polish defenders and clips a ball to the far post. He misses. But only just.
42 mins Just saw a replay of the goal. Thought Given was blameless at the time but he could have come out a lot quicker to try close down Peszko’s angle. Saying that, Peszko gave it a fair auld whack that would have been hard to stop regardless.
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40 mins Walters has gone more central. McGeady has moved to the right. Hoolahan is now on the left. This interchanging of positions. It’s just like Barcelona.
38 mins Krychowiak has been great tonight. Hoolahan, who has been OK, finds the run of Coleman behind the full-back. Glik comes over and sorts out the danger. Twas a good idea from the two players though, there is a bit of space over there to be exploited.
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36 mins Some head tennis is played before Brady storms down the left. His attack comes to an end with a great recovery tackle from Krychowiak.
34 mins A few moments ago, O’Shea went into the yellow book for a foul on Lewandowski. The referee ignored it at the time to let the game flow. Good on him. Speaking of yellow cards, Wawrzyniak has just taken Coleamn out of it near the corner flag on the right but somehow gets away with it. Not sure how given how late he was. Brady takes the resulting free-kick ... and he he hits it over everyone and out for a goalkick to Poland.
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32 mins ... an attack which ends with Whelan taking down Lewandowski about 25 yards from the Irish goal. It’s a free-kick in the middle of the pitch. Rybus takes it but his effort is well wide of Given’s post.
30 mins This is a real test for Ireland now. They have a throw inside the Polish half. They try to work that inside but are forced back and across the pitch. They try again but this well-organised, hard working side push them back and back and back and eventually go on the attack themselves ...
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28 mins Needless to saw, the Polish fans went crazy when that went it. The flares and smoke are out again.
After a silly tackle earlier, the referee had his eyes on Hoolahan and now he has his name in his book after he let his frustration out via a tackle Szukala. From that free, Poland lashed the ball down the right-hand side. Brady, who is not a regular left back, let the ball bounce, brought it under control but was under pressure from Peszko. So instead of whacking the feckin’ thing to safety, Brady looked up and gave Peszko the chance to rob him of possession. Peszko then combined with Rybus, who held off Wilson and got the ball back in the box before firing low and hard across the goal and into the far corner of the Irish net.
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GOAL!!! Ireland 0-1 Poland (Peszko, 26)
Oh. No.
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24 mins Ireland attack but it fails and Krychowiak strides forward with the ball before picking out Lewandowski, wide on the right. Lewandowski turns his body to goal but is crowded out of possession. Lucky for Ireland, he seems to be spending quite a bit of time out wide.
22 mins They are almost as bad as those awful vuvuzelas.
Atmosphere might be great but by God if I was near anyone who has those horns!..
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) March 29, 2015
20 mins Lewandowski backs into O’Shea but wins a free-kick about 30 yards out from the Irish goal, right in the centre of the pitch. Rybus floats the ball to the back post and finds the unmarked head of Krychowiak. He fires his header wide when he should have done much, much better.
18 mins ... eh, no. Brady took it and tried to find Keane but all he found was the first Polish defender. Bit of a waste that.
16 mins Ireland, after a throw on the left, play keep ball in the middle of the park before finding Coleman on the right. He cuts inside and finds Hoolahan. But Hoolahan can’t find him with the return pass. This is good from Ireland though. They now have a corner on the left, their first of the game. Can they do something with it? ...
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14 mins Given, Packie Bonner style, launches it long. Walters, Niall Quinn style, knocks it on. Robbie Keane, John Aldridge style, tries to win said knock on. He and Glik wrestle for the ball but the defender wins out and Ireland don’t do much with the resulting throw despite its advantageous position deep in the Polish half.
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@ianmccourt How does Shay Given get a start? Mind boggling. Nice to see three Stoke starters in the game, though.
— STOKECITY USA (@josher71) March 29, 2015
It is and it isn’t. Forde has been poor for Millwall this season and Given has proven himself at this level. It’s a safe choice.
10 mins Time for Ireland to attack via McGeady on the left. He wins a throw and with that Wilson looks to find Keane. He does and Keane, boxed into the corner, looks to win a corner. He fails to do so and Poland rid their half of any danger. But not for long. Walters wins a free in the middle of the Polish half. The away side switch off and Ireland take it quick to Hoolahan. He runs at goal and aims one at Fabianski but his effort is off target.
8 mins Poland get a throw on the half-way line on the right. They pass the ball to the other side and work it down the wing. Lewandowski tries to take on McCarthy but McCarthy is having none of it and he puts the ball out for another throw. Poland try work that into the box but Ireland, eventually, clear the danger.
6 mins As expected, Walters (complete with face mask due to fractured cheek) is playing on the right and Hoolahan is playing in the No10 role.
4 mins Poland get a throw wide on the left, near the half-way line. They work it forward and get another one much closer to the Irish goal. It falls at the feet of Lewandowski and he is pushed into the corner by O’Shea. The striker tries to do something with a back-heel but the ball dribbles out for an Ireland goalkick.
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2 mins Coleman gets the ball in the right-back position and immediately goes on the attack. He streams his way down the wing past a couple of Polish players but he gets stopped near their box by Wawrzyniak. That’s a good early sign of intent from the Everton man.
1 min Off we go then. Ireland are dressed all in green. Poland are dressed all in white. The home side get us going. They are playing right to left for the first 45 minutes. There is smoke from the flares being blown across the pitch. Keane gets his players into a huddle before the game gets going to get them going. They should need no more motivation.
The anthems are over. The noise is huge. It is almost time.
Tis a lively one there all right.
polish anthem pic.twitter.com/nazCQGetwj
— Ken Early (@kenearlys) March 29, 2015
Click, clack, click clack. That’s the sound of the players’ boots as they make their way out onto the pitch. “Ireland, Ireland,” scream the home fans, doing their best to bury the noise of the strong Polish contingent. Before we can get to the meat of this evening’s meal, we have the handshakes with the Irish president, Michael D. Higgins, and then there is those national anthems. The camera pans to the Irish bench. Keane and O’Neill look tense, like a long-standing couple who have just had another argument over the washing.
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And how about some words from Paul Doyle on why the clock is ticking on O’Neill and Roy Keane? You got it again.
It is time for the dream team to deliver. When Martin O’Neill announced that Roy Keane would be his assistant after he was appointed Republic of Ireland managerin November 2013, a wave of excitement swept over the country.
Could the charismatic, enigmatic duo usher in a new era of Irish success? Or at least banish the sense of unfulfilled potential that stained the end of Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign? Hopes were high. The performance in Sunday’s critical European Championship qualifier against Poland will give a strong indication of whether those hopes were well-founded.
So far the jury is out on O’Neill. The 13 matches that he has presided over have offered scant evidence of progress. The most important of those games brought a scruffy performance against Scotland in Glasgow last November and a 1-0 defeatthat puts the pressure on Ireland to beat Poland. Group D was billed as the most competitive of all, but if Ireland were to lose at home to the group leaders on Sunday they would realistically be out of the running by the halfway stage.
O’Neill has stressed, since the start of his tenure, that he intends to take a far bolder approach to home matches than away ones. Ireland were adventurous in their only home match of the campaign so far – albeit against a deeply inadequate Gibraltar team – and their 4-1 friendly victory over the United States the week after the defeat by Scotland stoked an ember of optimism that O’Neill’s side will be capable of producing a much more fluent and incisive performance in Dublin than the base hurly-burly of their Glasgow display.
How about some pre-match video action with Martin O’Neill and Robbie Keane in match shirts uttering the obvious? You got it.
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There is a decent sound in Lansdowne Road right about now, except it seems to be coming from the away fans.
Would any Irish in the Ballsbridge area please make their way to Lansdowne Road. More red and white than green and white in the ground now.
— Owen Cowzer (@OCowzer) March 29, 2015
Looks like a serious amount of Polish fans will be coming to the England/Scotland games on the three match deal. Red and white everywhere.
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) March 29, 2015
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Another (pessimistic) prediction. This time from my colleague, Barry Glendenning:
Ireland v Poland ahoy. I fear Ireland will get battered. I hope i am wrong.
— Barry Glendenning (@bglendenning) March 29, 2015
What is anyone else thinking?
So here we go then. You can’t accuse O’Neill of not giving the fans what they want and going for it, can you? There are seven changes from the defeat Scotland with Given, Wilson, Brady, Whelan, McCarthy, Hoolahan, and Keane all coming in to the starting side. Brady should take up that left full-back role in what looks to be a 4-2-3-1 formation. That will see McCarthy and Whelan holding back – and doing their best to hold back Milik and Lewandowski – with McGeady (on the left), Hoolahan (in the middle) and Walters (on the right, as he was in the draw against Germany) in front of them and Keane up front on his own. This feels like an important night for that midfield, especially the likes of McCarthy and Hoolahan. The former needs to show that he can impose himself on the game and help dictate its tempo while the latter finally has the chance to show what he can do in a big game for his country. Back to the goalkeeping situation. Forde will feel a touch unlucky not to start ahead of Given, especially given how long Given has not been playing regular football. Poland had a tough choice too in that department but opted for Fabianski. He is just one of six changes for Poland after their 4-0 victory away to Georgia. Jodlowiec, Wawrzyniak, Olkowski, Peszko, and Rybus are the others. Those teams in full then are as follows:
Republic of Ireland: Given; Coleman, O’Shea, Wilson, Brady; McCarthy, Whelan; Walters, Hoolahan, McGeady; Keane (c). Subs: Forde, Westwood, Clark, Long, McClean, Meyler, Arter, Christie, Ward, Quinn, Murphy, Keogh.
Poland: Fabianski; Olkowski, Szukala, Glik, Wawrzyniak; Peszko, Krychowiak, Jodlowiec, Rybus; Milik, Lewandowski (c). Subs: Szczesny, Boruc, Cionek, Komorowski, Linetty, Teodorczyk, Maczynski, Mila, Janicki, Gajos, Kucharczyk, Wojtkowiak.
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Swedish and a millionaire)
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Good evening
So here we are then. The Aviva. Lansdowne Road. Dublin 4. The Republic of Ireland versus Poland. Are your knees knocking? Is your stomach churning like an untamed sea? Are your fingers bare of nail? If you are a fan of the boys in green, then you should be. This is a big one. Not quite Holland in 2001, not quite Northern Ireland in 1993 and not quite Malta in 1989 but still a big one. And if anyone should tell you that not winning is not the end of the world and that a draw would do, then feel free to point them in the direction of Hell or Connaught and give them a boot up the backside to help them on their way. They deserve it.
Shay Given is one (and apologies in advance for the repetition). “It’s not [a] must-win yet,” he said during the week, “but it’s must-not-lose, I suppose.” Oh Shay. Seriously dude. Come on now. Just look at the table. Before tonight’s games, Ireland are in fourth place. They are three points behind first-placed Poland yet level with second-placed Germany and third-placed Scotland. But that point parity won’t be lasting for long. Scotland are going to do one on Gibraltar and Germany are going to do something similar to Georgia. By the time the whistle blows and Aviva crowd emit a low roar, Ireland could be a seven-point island, cut adrift from the group’s mainland and main contenders for qualification. That might be too much to make up, even at this early enough stage.
Winning is going to complicated though. Going into the game, Ireland are injury prone. Darron Gibson has already been sent back to Everton with continued groin-ouch! One of Martin O’Neill’s favourites, James McClean, has had to sit out a session or two (though Roy Keane reckons the Wigan winger is “100% fit” for the match) and there are a couple of question marks hanging over another O’Neill favourite, Aiden McGeady. And then there is Stephen Ward. Keane has marked him down in the “obviously doubtful” category. Should he not make it to the requisite level of fitness, one of Marc Wilson, Robbie Brady, Ciaran Clark or Cyrus Christie will line up at left-back. Wilson is probably the most obvious choice though the Ireland manager will be annoyed to move Wilson from the centre. There has been a midfield discussion already so let’s skip that and get to the forwards. Robbie or Shane? One does eff all for the team but can score. The other does eff all for goals but can help the team. Not much of a choice, is it? (Though, is this a sign of the choice?)
Over to Poland. You saw the game against Germany right? They were good, right? Wrong. They were better than good. They were great. “We had a little bit of luck, that’s why we won,” said Lukasz Piszczek but he is giving too much credit to the force. Germany may have been missing a few regulars but Poland were organised in defence and midfield, they worked hard and they countered with speed and intensity, showing immense concentration throughout. They deserved the win. They are also undefeated, having won three of their four games so far. But that’s not to say they are perfect or without weaknesses. They looked vulnerable to speed, especially down the right, as well as from set-pieces against Scotland (which is where the Scots got their second goal from) and that is where Ireland have to attack, attack, attack. Do that and cut off the supply to Arkadiusz Milik and Robert Lewandowski and they may have a chance but it is hard to see Ireland imposing themselves on this game and doing the necessaries to win.
Team news and all that funky jazz is on its way. Stay tuned folks, stay tuned.
Kick-off: 7.45pm in Dublin; 8.45pm in Warsaw.
Prediction: Republic of Ireland 0-2 Poland.
