Andorra 0 Rep Ireland 2: They said it didn't have be pretty and in the end it wasn't, but Giovanni Trapattoni's side secured the win and three points in Andorra where an early Kevin Doyle strike and own goal by Ildefons Lima left the Republic of Ireland just a point short of a place in the play-offs.
A draw against Armenia at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night will see Ireland qualify for another play-off spot, unless of course Andorra get an unlikely victory in Moscow .
It was, as it turned out, far from the night of anxious frustration that the travelling support had feared beforehand, especially the ones who had been without tickets until shortly before the start.
There were officially 362 of them there at the kick-off and just getting into the ground had represented something of an early victory for almost half of that number with the local association, whose dogged reluctance to fill the stadium’s empty seats with visiting fans, had narrowly beaten off stiff competition from the policing around the ground to emerge as the most crazy aspect of an eventful build-up.
They eventually relented and sold an additional 150 tickets an hour or so prior to kick-off.
The rather odd nature of the occasion is bound to live in their memories far longer than the football for the game was far from a classic and the win was secured without any great fuss once the visitors had got themselves 2-0 up by the 20th minute.
On a tight pitch against a side that sought to pack midfield, close opponents down at every opportunity and frantically fight to protect their goalkeeper, things were always going to be difficult but Trapattoni’s men generally struggled to rise above it all.
Almost inevitably, the defence coped well enough although the locals had a couple of half chances before Lima fired a long, low range effort at Given that the goalkeeper had to do well to hold on to.
There must have been a few skipped heartbeats, though, when Darren O’Dea slightly overhit a back pass and Given slipped after taking a touch but the Irishman recovered well to clear before Fernando Silva could close him down.
The long ball he hit downfield was a fairly common feature of Ireland’s approach play but there was little doubt about the visitors’ grip on things even inside the opposition half where man-of-the-match McGeady consistently looked the most likely player to make something happen and
The only significant setback for Trapattoni was a first-half booking for Stephen Ward that will keep him out of the final group game on Tuesday night, something that will most likely prompt the Italian to move John O’Shea to the other side of the back four and bring in Stephen Kelly.
The manager might have liked, of course, to see his players head into Tuesday’s game off the back of a slightly more emphatic victory here and certainly the margin could have been more comfortable. There were a handful of decent chances to the tally in both halves with Robbie Keane, McGeady and O’Dea amongst those to go close.
Still, they will be pleased to have secured the early breakthrough and, effectively, a match-winning advantage long before the locals had had the opportunity to get their hopes up.
In fact, the Irish players had repeatedly talked prior to the game about how important an early goal could be in terms of paving the way to victory and they set about securing it almost from the kick off when, after just 35 seconds, Keane set up Kevin Doyle for the first shot of the game.
Josep Gomes saved that with his feet and then got a hand to a close -range effort by Keane moments later when the Irish captain’s follow-up shot from a tight angle skimmed the cross bar before flying away towards the corner flag. Already, it seemed, the pattern of the game was being set.
Ireland had the ideal start just seven minutes in when first Doyle struck and then almost at the midway point in the half McGeady’s angled drive forced Gomes to turn the ball into the path of his retreating skipper, Lima who could do nothing to avoid turning the ball into his own net off his knee.
Doyle’s goal, his first for his country since Andorra visited Dublin 13 months ago, was something of a scramble with Damien Duff’s corner from the left flicked on by John O’Shea and Keane’s shot then actually inadvertently blocked by his fellow striker before O’Shea got another touch and Doyle helped the ball over the line.
The fact that he is up and running at this level again, though, is a welcome bonus ahead of Tuesday.
By the time the second went in, with word filtering through of the Russian goal in Zilina, the Irish already looked to be facing into Tuesday’s needing a single point to be sure of a place in the play-offs or a victory and the miracle of last night’s opponents winning in Moscow if they are go one better and qualify automatically.
That second goal came with 20 minutes gone as left winger McGeady, who gave Alexandre Martinez a torrid time throughout, forced Lima into an og after a clever Glenn Whelan free-kick completely wrong-footed the Andorran defence.
Ireland will, in all likelihood, have to improve considerably on this performance, especially in the second half, if they are to secure a play-off spot for themselves. For the moment, though, they are entitled to be happy with that.
ANDORRA: Gomes; C Martinez, E Garcia, Lima, Ayala, Bernaus; A Martinez, Moreno, Vieira, Pujol; Silva. Subs: Peppe for Pujol, (60 mins), Lorenzo for A Martinez (78 mins), Sonejee for Lima (81 mins)
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Aston Villa); O’Shea (Sunderland), St Ledger (Leicester City), O’Dea (Leeds United), Ward (Wolves); Duff (Fulham), Andrews (Ipswich Town), Whelan (Stoke City), McGeady (Spartak Moscow); Keane (LA Galaxy), Doyle (Wolves). Subs: Fahey (Birmingham City) for Whelan (65 mins), Long (West Brom) for Doyle (71 mins), Hunt (Wolves) for Duff (75 mins).
Referee: Libor Kovank (Czech Republic)
