Let Christie Take It

The build up to Ireland away trips is normally charged with nervous energy for me.  The sleepless night before an early start to the airport, the excitement that comes from knowing you'll be spending the next couple of days with like minded friends that you've shared practically every emotion possible with over the years and the nervousness that comes from never knowing exactly what sort of performance you're likely to get from any of the Ireland teams over the last decade or so.  So trips like last week's to Portugal made a nice change by giving you the opportunity to bolt a holiday onto it and actually have a relaxed build up for once!  It's not the first time I've done it with previous trips to Malta, Cyprus and Salonika / Macedonia all providing the opportunity to do similar and as with the latter trip gave me the opportunity to bring the better half, Louise, away for a nice break before the serious business of the football takes over for the last couple of days!

We actually moved into holiday mode the night before we left by having a very nice evening at the gala dinner for the 125th anniversary of that great Dublin institution, the Bohemian Football Club at the Gresham.  However, given that we had a 7.45 flight to Lisbon the following morning, we made our excuses and left around 1.30 to try and get a few hours sleep before our 6 am taxi. A further oversight on my part meant that 20 minutes after I booked the flights I twigged that the Sunday we'd booked our flight for was an All Ireland Semi final day and my heart sank when I checked and found out that it was the semi that the Leinster champions would contest if they got that far.  Having resigned myself to missing the game in person I at least had the consolation of knowing that I could catch a stream of it as we were due to arrive at the friend's house that we were staying the first few days with outside of the the city of Coimbra at 1.30.  Our flight took off and arrived on time landing us in Lisbon at 10.35 which left us an hour to make the 3 stops from the airport to Lisbon Oriente to make our connecting train at 11.39.  Plenty of time you would think given that the board at baggage claim said that the first bags from the flight were due at 11.00.  However, 11 came and went as did the bags from the Heathrow flight that landed 5 minutes after us before our bags finally started coming through about 11.20.  And a sprint down to the underground and up through Oriente station ultimately was in vain as we arrived up on the platform just in time to see our train begin to crawl away from it.  Relaxation was the furthest thing from my mind at that point after we were told that the next train wasn't for another two hours meaning we wouldn't reach where we were staying until 4 at the earliest and the 3.30 throw in left me with the realisation that I'd have to miss the first half of the Dublin Mayo game!  Anyway, after a particularly long stream of expletives and a fruitless online search to find a pub in Coimbra that might be showing it, I had to accept that the first half would be missed and rang our esteemed host, Big Dave aka Geordie, to let him know we'd be 2 hours late for our pick up.

Having hung around for the extra couple of hours and then sat through a 2 and a half hour train journey, we were pretty tired by the time we got collected in Coimbra although we got a great boost by seeing our old friend, the aforementioned Geordie stride up the platform to greet us.  Having moved out to Portugal last year, his house has practically turned into a guest house with the amount of visitors from Dublin and beyond that have ventured over in the last 15 months!  We had previously visited last year and this year, he had one friend, Ray, leaving on the Monday morning, another one, Julie arriving at the same time as us and a further one, Richie arriving on the Tuesday!  By the time we arrived at 4, Ray informed me that the Dubs were level at half time and we settled down for the second half which again was far from relaxing as Dublin contrived to look like they'd put the game beyond doubt only to utterly blow up in the last 10 minutes and end up being lucky to hang on for a draw.  My initial happiness at thinking at least I'd make the replay soon evaporated as I realised that the replay would most likely be on the following Saturday when we were due to travel home.  Mind you, I was already missing the Dublin derby on the Saturday so I suppose at least it saved me having to chose which game to attend!

Anyway, once that was out of the way, we were finally able to fully embrace relaxation mode and had a great few days with Geordie, Julie and Richie taking in everything from shooting competitions with his air rifle, star gazing with his recently acquired astronomy telescope, visits to the city, swimming down the local river beaches on top of a couple of lovely meals out, a couple of great BBQ's soundtracked by some good tunes and great company.  Not to mention fueled by the local brew Sagres and some fine red wines!  Thursday rolled round far too quickly and we were sorry leaving the rest behind as we headed off for our 5 and a half hour train journey to Faro.  The sadness was obviously tempered by the fact that we were heading down to meet a different circle of great friends and even though the match was as close to a gimme as you can get in international football it was still something to look forward to.

Target practice for Gibraltar!

So we arrived in Faro on Thursday evening and having had a wander to get our bearings, found a lovely restaurant to get dinner and following that headed down to Pipers, a local Irish bar where that legend amongst the Irish traveling support of a certain vintage, Tommy Feeley, was celebrating his 60th birthday.  Once inside we discovered a cracking terrace bar on the roof and settled down with some of the regular traveling crowd,  Terry the Tash, McCoy, Pete and Pat for a catch up, a reminisce and some chat about the weekend's fixtures while the party raged downstairs.  All had agreed that Georgia doing us a favour against Scotland could turn things around big time for us but we were looking at that game more in hope than expectation.  Shared concerns over us getting the required result on Monday at home to Georgia were also expressed but before we knew it, it had gone past 2 am and with a big day in front of us on Friday we decided to call it a night.

Our original plan was to possibly head up to Albufeira on the Thursday night to catch up with some of the YBIG crew but Tommy's party had put paid to that idea so myself and Lou decided that we'd head up there before the game on Friday to check out the pre match atmosphere in the Erin's Isle pub where the YBIG meet up had been planned.  The place was thronged when we arrived with a DVD showing the best of the Charlton era on the big screen adding to the festive atmosphere.  We made our way through the crowd and found the Quinn towers with a few of their Newry crowd and said our hello's to a few of the usual YBIG stalwarts like Saint Tom, The GerK and Steve Amsterdam and spent the next few hours chanting and chatting and trying to see if we could blag our way onto any of the buses going out to the ground after being told they were all booked out on arrival. The buses were due to leave at 6 so we were able to catch the first half of the Scotland game before we would have to leave and at 5 the Glory Years DVD came off and the Georgia game came up on the big screen.  To be honest, myself and what seemed like most of the fans present were more nervous about this game than our own.  Georgia started pretty well and fluffed one great chance early on.  I hadn't dared hope that Georgia would do us a favour so couldn't believe it when they kept the pressure on and went one nil up before half time!  The roar that went up from the Irish support would have taken the roof off the Erin's Isle were we not in the open air courtyard!

Erin's Isle

It was the lack of a bus ticket that led us to meet up with another nice crew and again showed exactly why the traveling Irish fans are the best in the world.  While I was checking with one of the lads who was running the buses to see if we could buy tickets if there were any no shows, another fan overheard and said that he had a car going out with 2 spare seats in it and myself and Lou were welcome to jump in with them.  So while all the coaches began to pull out, we followed the convoy with our new friend, Gerard, a Limerick man now living in London who had traveled over with his son Conor and his nephew and designated driver, Laurence!  They were a sound bunch of lads and we arranged to meet them afterwards as they were in the opposite side of the the ground to us even though we had bus tickets back to Faro.  Our mood was improved further when confirmation came through as we were waiting to collect their tickets that Georgia had held on against Scotland for a 1-0 win which put our fate back in our own hands!

Our chauffeurs for the day!

And so onto the game itself.  As I mentioned earlier, these sort of games lack the tension of the majority of qualifiers as the result is essentially a foregone conclusion although as Irish fans,  the spectre of the 0-0 draw v Liechtenstein in 1995 always hangs over us.  The team selected by Martin O'Neill was an attacking one as would be expected  with the only real surprise being the selection of Cyrus Christie ahead of Seamus Coleman who was reported as having a tight hamstring.  O'Neill favourite Aiden McGeady couldn't really have expected to start given his lack of first team football at present and while there is an argument that Robbie Keane shouldn't start every game, it's exactly this sort of game that is suited to him these days and he is scoring week in week out in the MLS against teams far better than Gibraltar so it was a no brainer to start him in this game.

It was no surprise to see Ireland start on the front foot and after a couple of early corners the first real chance came around 5 minutes in when a good Robbie Brady free kick was well saved by the Gibraltar keeper at the expense of a corner which then amounted to nothing.  We kept the early pressure on although having seen Ciaran Clark hit the bar from a chance he really should have put away and then a Walters header into the net disallowed for offside we started losing our composure a bit and those unwelcome and unrealistic thoughts that it might be one of those games began when we reached the halfway point of the first half.  Thankfully, those thoughts were put to bed from the most unlikely of sources as Cyrus Christie waltzed through the Gibraltar defence following a one two with Wes Hoolahan and finished beautifully with the outside of his right boot to unleash a torrent of 'Let Christie take it!' gags on social media!  Ireland upped things again after that and nearly went two up within a minute after a superb strike from Jon Walters on the volley which the keeper did well to tip over but that increase of tempo didn't seem to last long and Gibraltar began to foray further forward and actually made Shay Given work with one decent save that got pushed away for a corner and a second comfortable save that was straight at him to be fair. Christie also had to clear one from under the bar as we got a bit sloppy.  Ireland finished the half huffing and puffing a bit with no real invention going into our set plays and I was disappointed to go into the half time break only that single goal to the good.

Let Christie Take It!

Having foregone a half time beer after discovering before the game that the only beer available in the ground was non alcoholic (I don't think the majority of fans realised it looking at the queue!), we settled back and waited for the second half to start hoping that O'Neill was giving the team a bit of a rocket during the break.  Although head to head trumps goal difference in this campaign, I'm never comfortable with a single goal lead regardless of the opposition so I wanted to see a bit more tempo at the start of the second to put the game beyond the part timers.  And so it came to pass with Keane having a very good shout for a penalty ignored in the first minute of the half before finally getting his chance with one of the easiest finishes he'd ever had to take his Irish tally to 66 goals.  It actually started with Christie involved again when he was caught in possession to leave Gibraltar in a three on two position before Walters saved his blushes by regaining the ball and bringing it forward before playing the ball across where a Gibraltar defender deflected it onto the post and off the keeper I think before rolling across the line where Keane was lurking on the far post to tap the ball in from no more than a couple of yards.  His celebration was no less extravagant than normal regardless of the simplicity of the finish and I think it's safe to say that he still loves scoring goals for Ireland!  

Route 66

The second goal essentially made the game safe and it was put beyond doubt two minutes later when Hoolahan was taken down in the box following some typical trickery and Keane stepped up to put away his 67th international goal from the spot.  Disappointingly, Ireland didn't use this as a platform to put the part timers to the sword as the pace of the game dropped to pre season pace and we seemed to resort to long cross field balls and hopeful punts in the box rather than continuing to pass the ball around and be more creative.  

The first subs came on around 70 minutes as Keane was withdrawn, and deprived of the chance to get his hat trick, with Shane Long entering the fray and James McCarthy who had again been very anonymous replaced by Stephen Quinn (whose name the stadium announcer seemed to have huge difficulty with altough not as much difficulty as he had pronouncing Richard Keogh!).  The changes initially didn't seem to change things too much with Gibraltar actually creating a half chance almost immediately which Brady did well to block but gradually we pushed further forward again with Walters putting a clear chance wide when he should have scored following a ball from Hoolahan which was his last input before being replaced by McGeady.  The fourth goal duly arrived with just over 10 minutes left when Long powered a good header (albeit a free one) home from a Jeff Hendrick cross but again we couldn't push on and get a fifth with the only chance falling to Walters who put a header wide when he really should have left it for Clark who was in a better position behind him.  As with the first half, the second petered out a bit before the ref blew up after 3 minutes stoppage time and we emulated Germany by posting 7-0 and 4-0 wins against the groups whipping boys.

Given the standard of the opposition it's hard to read too much into a game like that.  That said, Walters was impressive and everything that was played up to him stuck to him, Keane did what you'd expect of him, Hoolahan had flashes of creativity although also let the ball get away from him a couple of times.  Christie was a mixed bag for me, took his goal exceptionally well and defended well although his first touch left a lot to be desired on a couple of occasions which could be costly against better opposition.  That said, he got forward well on a few occasions as did Robbie Brady on the opposite flank, particularly early on.  Whelan did what Whelan does, Hendrick was okay without really putting his stamp on the game but McCarthy was very disappointing for me and still lacks the desire to demand the ball that his ability calls for.  I was delighted to see Long get on the score-sheet and hopefully his confidence will build from this and the Poland goal and he can start being more prolific for us as Keane's career winds down.  O'Shea and Clark weren't really tested and neither was Given bar the two aforementioned first half saves.

Regardless of the performance the result was what really mattered and having met up with Gerard, Conor and Laurence again we headed back to Faro and met up with the others on the rooftop terrace in Pipers again before heading off for some Tapas at a lovely place called Bottle and finishing about 3 with a glass of wine on the marina.  Like I said at the start these trips tend to have a different dynamic than the normal away trips with the lads!  After taking a bit of time to explore the old town on the Saturday, we made for the airport and our flight home, during which a perfect weekend of results was confirmed with Bohs securing a draw away to Rovers in Tallaght just before take off and the pilot announcing that the Dubs had won with a storming comeback to secure their All Ireland Final place.  The trip itself finished on a bit of a bizarre note when a huge crowd came out to greet us at the airport! Although maybe that had something to do with Conor McGregor arriving back on a flight just in front of us.......

Notorious! 

Obviously the big results were elsewhere in the group with Georgia's result against Scotland being absolutely huge for us.  A win tonight against Georgia and then we only need to match Scotland's results against Germany and Poland to be sure of a play off.  And Germany's win against Poland only leaves us 2 points behind them meaning that if we can stay within 3 points of Poland when we get to Warsaw that game becomes a winner takes all clash for automatic qualification.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves, in general I thought the performance v Gibraltar was poor enough and will need to be improved on to beat Georgia.  But on the positive side, we've been handed a lifeline that none of us really expected.  Now let's push on tonight and use it!  

Caught with our Jocks Down

Following a couple of weeks of high farce from FIFA and John Delaney (and by extension, the FAI), events at the Dublin Derby at Dalymount Park on the day before had me heading to Lansdowne for the Scotland game with a spring in my step and hopeful that Bohs' stunning late comeback was a good omen.  The atmosphere at the original home of Irish football had been electric and was enjoyed by a large smattering of Scottish fans and indeed, the entire city of Dublin was awash with sporrans and kilts in the build up to the game.  The game against England the previous week had told us little as it petered out into exactly the type of match I'd expected with two managers who play the percentage game not wanting to run the risk of picking up injuries and the early kick off not helping what turned into a staid scoreless draw played in a very muted atmosphere.  But this week was the real thing with the latest in what seems to be an endless run of 'must win' games meaning that expectation levels built all week and by the time Saturday morning rolled around that sense of anticipation that accompanies any big game had reached it's peak and actually been heightened by the Bohs result on Friday.

Having picked up Frankie the Hands in town, we headed for O'Neill's on Suffolk Street to collect the Brummies and following a quick one, jumped into a couple of taxis to head down to our usual spot in the Beggars Bush.  The Scots were certainly adding a flash of colour to proceedings as the fans openly mingled and exchanged some good natured banter.  Most of the usual suspects were at the Beggars when we arrived but the bar was absolutely thronged and having heard from a couple of the lads that it had taken half an hour to get served, we made the call to hit the off licence and grab a couple of cans to have out in the sun on the grounds outside the National Print Museum.  Given the queue outside the Spar beside Slatterys, we obviously weren't the only people to have the idea but I managed to get in fairly quickly and we found a nice spot on the grass to spend the last 90 minutes before the game.  A few quick calls and a good crew gathered there to make the most of what seemed to be the first week of the summer weather.

The first big talking point of the day was around Martin O'Neill's team selection with his preferred XI bearing a number of differences to what I would have sent out.  I believe at this stage that Kieran Westwood should be in the team ahead of Shay Given.  The back four was what I would have selected and Glen Whelan and James McCarthy in the centre and Jon Walters and Wes Hoolahan also would have started for me.  However, I thought that Jeff Hendrick playing ostensibly in a wide position hadn't worked against England as I felt he kept tucking in to his more favoured central role restricting our width so I would have had James McClean in ahead of him and despite Daryl Murphy's excellent season for Ipswich, I still found it baffling that he was picked ahead of Shane Long.  I have to wonder what Long has done to be overlooked consistently by consecutive managers.  While he can be poor in front of goal, he plays at a higher level than Murphy and has been prolific in the past while playing in the Championship.  But O'Neill is the boss so it's his call.  The fact that the team showed 7 changes from the reverse fixture in Glasgow worried me and indicates that even at this stage the management team don't know their best team or formation.  From the Scottish end, the one thing that I found encouraging was the absence of Ikechi Anya from their starting XI as I had feared his pace would cause us problems having seen him cause Germany all sorts of issues earlier in the campaign.

Between the good weather and the bigger crowd than normal the atmosphere built nicely with a gang of Scots fans walking past belting out Amhran na bhFiann on the bagpipes adding a nice touch.  We headed down to the South end about 25 minutes before kick off and made our way to the usual spot at the back of the Singing Section just in time for the anthems.  It was great to see the ground full for the second competitive game in a row and our anthem was roared out with a huge amount of gusto.  A minute's applause followed following the deaths of Bill O'Herlihy,League of Ireland legend, Johnny Fulham and also to mark the tragic passing of Robbie Keane's two cousins which had certainly put football into perspective before the ref blew for kick off.

Ireland actually started at a great tempo albeit it was more all about perspiration rather than inspiration despite the presence of Hoolohan on the pitch.  While we were certainly dominant in terms of possession there was little created in the way of chances with Scotland actually being the first to get a shot off as Fletcher made Given stretch for a relatively straightforward tip over.  But this was the exception rather than the rule and we began to reassert ourselves once the resultant corner was cleared without any clear cut chances coming our way.  The atmosphere in the singing section was as good at this point as it's been since Lansdowne re-opened with non stop chants booming out as we tried to encourage the team but despite winning a couple of corners, nothing came close to breaking the deadlock with a wayward shot into the stands from Whelan summing up our lack of cutting edge in the first 20 minutes.  The aforementioned Whelan's next input was a moment I'm sure he'll want to forget as he collected the ball in midfield in acres of space, looked up to survey his options and promptly booted the ball straight into touch without putting it anywhere near a teammate!

Another couple of corners followed with Brady's delivery from the left being decent but Whelan's delivery from the right leaving a lot to be desired.  Tackles were flying in at this stage and things flared up around half an hour in as McCarthy went up for a ball with Russell Martin and caught the Scottish defender with his elbow opening a cut on his head.  The pace with which the ref ran over to the slight fracas that had developed afterwards had me thinking that he was going to pull out a red card so there was a definite sense of relief when the card colour turned out to the yellow.  I don't think McCarthy is the type of player to go in swinging elbows but I've seen players walk for similar before.  The game reverted to type following this with us dictating the tempo but not really looking like breaching the Scotland defence and it was from a bit of a hit and hope ball into the box that Ireland fashioned another corner after Whelan lofting a ball onto Murphy's head who got sufficient loop onto the header to force David Marshall to palm the ball over the bar.

Brady was on corner taking duties again and it was from his delivery that the deadlock was finally broken.  He played an in-swinger in and Murphy got his head to it again causing Marshall to palm it out to the feet of Walters who gleefully buried the rebound despite having been clearly offside when the original header came in!  Even allowing for arguments about first and second phases of play, it was extremely fortunate not to be pulled up by the officials.  None of this was any way clear to us at the other end of the ground and the sight of the ball hitting the net had led to absolute pandemonium in the South end of the ground!  And even allowing for the lucky decision, it was a deserved lead on the balance of play.

I had thought that we'd need another goal to try and put some daylight between ourselves and the Scots and to be fair to the team, they certainly attempted to finish the half on a high as the Scottish defence looked like it was creaking a bit.  Brady's delivery once again was causing problems with another dangerous cross from the left being headed out by Charlie Mulgrew for another corner from the same side the goal had come from.  And it was from Brady's corner that we really should have found that daylight as he pinged a lovely ball over that bounced right across the goal at the edge of the six yard box but unfortunately no one was quick enough to apply a killer touch to it.  That was the last notable action of the half and the Scots were clearly happy to get off the pitch to regroup at that point whereas as an Irish fan, I'd have been happy to see the half go on another ten minutes.

But half time it was and with it John Delaney's name again came to the fore.  It had been discussed and generally agreed across the various message boards that any protest regarding the litany of incredulous behaviour from the FAI CEO would generally take place at half time so we could concentrate on supporting the team while they were on the pitch.  And although there had been a number of "We Want Delaney Out!" and "Fuck Delaney and the FAI!" chants during the half, it was at half time that things kicked into gear again.  Despite the completely over the top searches that have been introduced for the last couple of games at the entrance to the Singing Section, a number of banners had got into the section and as they were unfurled, we had to initially witness the usual keystone cops attempts of the stewards to try and confiscate banners that breach no stadium regulations or laws of the land.  It's beyond pathetic that this prevention of legitimate protest is being undertaken and Mr. Delaney's good friend Denis O'Brien would no doubt be proud of it.  The news that Gardai had called out to an airfield where a light aircraft had been hired to fly a 'Delaney Out!' banner over the ground and that the pilot had then decided not to fly added and element of farce that Kim Jong Un would be embarrassed by, let alone our own Kim John D!  Following a stand off between the stewards and the protesters, the sheer number of fans chanting and passing the banners back and forth meant the stewards eventually gave up their efforts and things moved up another level when one fan dressed in full JD regalia of blazer and grey wig was hoisted aloft on a number of shoulders in Sopot style and started handing out brown envelopes to all and sundry!  I think that he did manage to hold onto his shoes though.

I've already blogged at length about my issues with Delaney's behaviour in the past but what's gone on after the farcical FIFA congress deserves comment.  The fact that the man can't see the hypocrisy involved in trying to portray himself as a beacon of UEFA transparency shining through the cesspit of corruption that Sepp Blatter's FIFA is while boasting about secret deals he's done with the individual in question shows yet again the utter lack of any sort of basic cop on that a man in his position should possess.  However, he seems to have an Irish politician's brass neck as shown by his blatant late night phone calls to convince various TD's not to call him to task in front of an Oireachtas committee and his utter inability to take responsibility for things that happen on his watch.  Parish pump bullshit at it's finest.  Add in the fact that someone in the FAI took it upon themselves to pulp and reprint the entire programme run for the game (without JD's knowledge of course) in the wake of the Ray D'Arcy interview at a cost of €10,000 due to the CEO's attack on FIFA corruption and the situation further enters the realms of the ridiculous.  When you consider how little money some League of Ireland teams have gone out of business over it turns from ridiculous to sickening.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the amusement at the protest and the feel good factor generated by the goal to completely disintegrate once the action started again on the pitch.  I mentioned earlier that I was surprised that Anya hadn't started for the Scots so it was no surprise to see him come on at the start of the second half.  And within a minute he was involved in a one two with Shaun Maloney which was very reminiscent of the interplay that led to Scotland's goal in Glasgow.  Once again the Ireland defence was asleep and once again the result was the same.  Although on this occasion Maloney's shot was well off target, a flick off Coleman's boot directed it into O'Shea's back as he turned away from the ball and although Given looked flat footed once again, it's doubtful that any keeper could have got close to the ball as it spun right into the corner to send the Scottish fans behind that goal into raptures.  The fact that the idiots in charge of the PA at Lansdowne decided that would be a good time to boom out 7 Nation Army when the opposition had scored just rubbed salt in the wound.

Despite this setback, our initial response was good and within another minute of tipping off we really should have gone back in front. Hoolohan got on the ball in a central position and threaded a beautiful ball into Murphy who had got in behind the full back on our left hand side. Although he took the ball into a good position, his attempt at goal from around 10 yards lacked a bit of conviction and Marshall manged to save with his trailing leg.  For a second it looked like Walters was on hand again to put away the rebound but the spin from the keepers touch took the ball away from him a bit and even though he got a shot off, Marshall was able to recover and put the ball away for a corner.  The initial chance really was clear cut and you'd have to say that an international striker should be finishing from there.

The missed opportunity seemed to suck the life out of us to a degree and Scotland enjoyed their best spell of the match in the 15 minutes afterwards although there was little in the way of goal opportunities.  The best chance they had was at the end of that spell when that man Anya got on the ball again and whipped a cross in which deflected off Coleman.  For a moment it looked like Given might be in trouble but credit where it's due, he sensed the danger and cleared it in a very unorthodox manner by clawing the ball into the ground where it bounced to safety. O'Neill made his first change shortly afterwards by bringing McClean on for Whelan and shifting Hendrick into the centre.  But although the Scottish storm had been weathered by now, we were still lacking in inspiration and any chance of getting a winner through a bit of creativity seemed to be given up on as Hoolohan was withdrawn for Robbie Keane.  It's clear that O'Neill, like Trap before him, thinks that Keane and Hoolahan can't play in the same team but it still felt like a retrograde step to me.

That said, despite his age, Keane still has a lot more quality in his movement than most of the squad and his arrival did signal a slight change in impetus.  He managed to get a decent strike off within a minute of coming on but unfortunately it was straight down Marshall's throat and easily gathered.  Scotland certainly seemed to be settling for the draw at this stage but despite our many late goals in the campaign so far, there was never that sense that another was coming.  Long finally arrived for Murphy on 80 minutes (which was at least 10 minutes later than I'd have liked) but the longer the game went on the clearer it was that we'd have to rely on a set piece to get something.  Brady's delivery was still causing problems and with around 5 minutes left he put a great corner onto McClean's head but the ball came off Hutton's head and out for another corner.  The fact that Hendrick then started taking some of the corners from the left instead of letting Brady out-swing a couple just added to the frustration as the game petered out to the inevitable draw that always seems to be the result in our must win games.

So, once the final whistle went, any feel good factor from the Bohs result on the Friday had well and truly dissipated.  The usual drowning of sorrows and post moterms followed but, being realistic, it looks like the campaign is effectively over and it has to be said that, bar the excitement generated by the late goals which have put a gloss on our results, it's been desperately disappointing.   While we should expect 2 wins against Gibraltar and Georgia in our next two games which will keep us in the running mathematically, we're essentially relying on a Gary Mackay style intervention from Georgia against Scotland to swing things back into our favour and then the easy task of getting a result against Germany at home and winning against Poland away.  Given how things have developed under O'Neill since he's taken over, I've seen nothing to suggest this could be the case.  I expressed concerns when he was appointed that without John Robertson by his side, we may end up with the Sunderland Martin O'Neill instead of the Celtic or even the Villa Martin O'Neill.  Unfortunately, it seems like it's the former we have.  It's questionable to see what Roy Keane has brought to the table other than a bigger circus from the media than Duffy's and Fossett's combined could bring.  Tactically we seem to be all over the place with numerous variations on formations and 22 different players starting the games in this campaign.  Decisions such as bringing the likes of Given back instead of putting his faith in the younger Westwood smacks of desperation. People defending the situation have been comparing it to the last campaign under Trap but that's a ludicrous comparison, it's his first campaign that it should be compared to.  And while we can certainly point to how difficult the draw made things for us, we had Italy and Bulgaria in the World Cup '10 campaign and went unbeaten home and away against them on our way to 2nd place in the group.  And again there is a relevant point that the squad has deteriorated over the last 5 years, when you look at the Scotland team that looks like finishing ahead of us, you can't say that they have better players than we do, it's just that their management team is getting the best out of them whereas ours clearly isn't.  The story leaking from the camp that the formation they were sent out to play such a vital game in hadn't been practiced at all in training is staggering if true.  O'Neill has never been a manager who gets involved in the general training drills like Strachan does and if you're going to take that approach then you need to have the right people around you.  It seems that in Robertson's absence, O'Neill does not.

So, where from here?  I'm not a fan of the vaguely ridiculous notion I've seen on some forums that the manager should be changed now to give a new management team 4 competitive games to build for the next campaign and he certainly deserves to see this campaign out.  Miracles can happen sometimes and I'll be there in Faro for the next game supporting the team and praying that results elsewhere start falling our way.  But fundamental questions around the entire set up in the FAI will remain.  Our CEO is all about the first team and seems to have little interest in how things are built up from the grass roots.  When you see how far we've regressed since Brian Kerr thrilled us with his all conquering underage sides it makes for a depressing thought.  A chance to build on that has been missed amid all the infighting and nonsense that makes up Irish football politics.  And unfortunately, when there's no one involved with the balls to ask any searching questions at the FAI AGM, let alone to tackle the top man head on it's hard to see that changing.     

Pole Chancers

So another home game goes by and still we wait for a win against a higher ranked team than us and the win  that might finally kickstart both the Martin O'Neill era and the new Lansdowne roar.  UEFA's new 'Week of Football' format meant that our group's games took place on a Sunday and while that may suit the TV schedulers it doesn't do the fans any favours, particularly our 2nd generation supporters for whom even our home games require traveling to.  But we make do as we always do and with Monday safely booked off months ago, Sunday evening became the peak of the weekend rather than it's usual wind down status.  Having met up with the usual Birmingham Irish crew on Saturday and taken in a drab Dublin v Derry game in Croke Park before catching up over a few nightcaps, by the time Sunday afternoon finally rolled around were well up for creating a bit of atmosphere and town was buzzing with a huge amount of Polish fans visible in the city centre amongst the usual home support you'd see on a match day.  First stop was O'Neill's on Suffolk St where the Brummies had met up with the Quinn towers and after a couple of looseners in there the six of us jumped a cab and headed down to the usual spot in the Beggars Bush to hook up with the rest of the regulars.  After meeting with the usual away trip crew and some of YBIG's finest, the place was soon packed to the rafters and there was a proper big match feel to it with the usual pre match optimism mixed with the more pragmatic viewpoint as we tried to predict how the game would go.  Given our recent history at home, I was predicting a draw and that seemed to be the general consensus.

When the team was announced an hour or so before kick off, I was delighted to see Wes Hoolahan included but surprised to see Shay Given recalled at the expense of David Forde who can feel very hard done by given his performances for us since nailing down the number one spot.  I was happy enough with the team but curious to see how it would line up and I remain to be convinced that Robbie Keane and the aforementioned Hoolahan  dove-tail well together up front.  I thought that Keane would have been better suited to start in Glasgow considering how the team was set up over there and Shane Long is better suited to playing if we're using Hoolahan in the classic number 10 role. But O'Neill is the boss and he's always had his own way of doing things.  Robbie Brady's selection at left back was a bit of a surprise given how rarely he's played there and how recent his return from injury was.  He had played well there in the American friendly though and he is very good from a dead ball so I felt putting him in there was a gamble worth taking,

At this stage it was time to head down to the stadium and with our vocal chords nicely lubricated we made our way towards Lansdowne Road throughout a crowd mixed with plenty of red and white in amongst the green.  We got to our usual spot in the Singing Section just in time for the anthems and while the atmosphere was great in our end, it was still a bit of a shock to see that sheer volume of Polish fans all across the Havelock Square end and on into the East and West stands at that end of the ground.  Obviously I've seen the numbers that have attended our friendlies with Poland the last few years but it was still disappointing to see so many away fans at a crunch qualifier like this one.  I don't think you can blame the FAI for how they issued tickets this time with the availability of partial season tickets and the hat-trick initiative where tickets were sold as a package with the upcoming England and Scotland games, it's just indicative of the lack of love for this Irish team among the general public.  Considering there were also pockets of Polish fans dotted around the stadium I'd imagine there must have been close to 20,000 away fans there.

The one thing about the number of Polish fans there was that it certainly ramped up the atmosphere as our support set about getting behind the team to respond to the vociferous away support.  Unfortunately, this didn't seem to translate on the pitch and although we pushed forward on the right through Coleman in the first couple of minutes we were soon on the back foot as Poland started playing with far more assurance and confidence then we did.  We were struggling to hold on to the ball for any meaningful period of time and were letting Poland dictate the play.  To be honest, it was reminiscent of  the dying days of the Trap era and given how the game was developing, it wasn't a surprise when Poland took the lead.

The goal itself was disappointing on a number of levels.  It was a fairly hopeful long ball down the right from a Polish free which Brady got under and seemed to have enough time to at least lash the ball out of play.  However, having controlled the bouncing ball, Brady dawdled on it and allowed the Polish player, Peszko, to pick his pocket and take a return pass from Rybus before hammering the ball home across Given's body.  While Brady must take responsibility for the goal, I think questions should be asked of Given as well, while it would have taken a hell of a save to keep it out, he seemed to be slow in getting his hands up and his reaction to the shot in itself wasn't great.  At that stage we were making Poland look like worldbeaters and I was beginning to worry about our campaign ending halfway through it.  I thought Hoolahan had been playing too far forward for the half but to be fair to O'Neill, he changed things around coming up to half time with Walters pushing up to partner Keane and Hoolahan ostensibly moving to the left although he seemed to be playing more of a free role to try and link the midfield and attack.  All the same, I was relieved to get to half time with the score still at 1-0.

When the teams came out for the second half there were no changes and they lined up as they'd finished the half.  However, there had been a hint of the momentum shifting at the end of the first half and the Poles seemed content with their single goal lead and sat back somewhat.  About 7 minutes into the half we had our first significant opportunity when a cross from Brady took a deflection from a Polish defender causing it to loop over Fabianski and cannon back off the crossbar.  While it would have been a fluke the fact that we'd hit the woodwork ramped up the atmosphere another notch.  We carried on building a bit of pressure but seemed to be relying on set pieces to get a break with a free from Brady well over the bar the closest we came until O'Neill made his first throw of the dice, bringing James McClean on for Aiden McGeady.  McClean made an instant impact on the left within minutes when he dug out a great cross onto Keane's head with Fabianski somehow getting a hand to it to push it onto the post.  I thought the rebound was going to hit the keeper and bounce in but unfortunately it came back on the wrong side of the line and was cleared.

McClean really seemed up for it and a crunching tackle he made on around 74 minutes on Milik lifted the Polish player out of it and also lifted the crowd again.  By then I found it very surprising that Long hadn't been brought on yet and fully expected Keane to make way but to be fair to O'Neill he really went for by removing Whelan and going with the extra man up front.  Just before the change we'd had another couple of chances with a Keane pull back for a  Hoolahan shot being blocked and that man McClean involved again by putting a great cross in which Keane played back for the onrushing Coleman who unfortunately ballooned his shot wide.  So the pressure was still building but with time running out I found myself thinking we couldn't possibly get a third last minute goal in this campaign.  How wrong was I!

Right on the 90 minutes we'd won a free kick which Brady had dropped into the box and which Fabianski could only put out for a corner.  I always prefer when we're attacking the South end in the second half, it's always been where the noisiest Irish fans have congregated going back to the old South Terrace days and there was a ferocious amount of noise coming from us once we got the corner right up until Brady took it.  It seemed like it was now or never as Brady swung in a deep corner which somehow landed on the head of Hoolahan, one of the smallest players on the pitch, who cushioned a header down to Long.  Long took a great first touch before getting a bit lucky with his second when he got his shot off as it seemed to clip the defenders foot and loop in over Fabianski's dive!

Made in the League of Ireland!

As I said in the Germany blog, there's really nothing like a last minute goal when it comes to celebrations.  We've been waiting a long time for a magic moment and while everyone would have preferred it to be a winner, there was still an eruption of joy and relief that hasn't been seen yet in the new Lansdowne.  The Singing Section behind the goal went berserk and when the roar seemed to be dying down it picked up again and was nearly as sustained a celebration as the one that marked John O'Shea's goal in Germany.  With everyone's pulse quickened we realised that there were still 5 minutes of stoppage time and we bellowed at the team to attack and try and get a winner.  As it turned out, Poland had the first chance in the remaining injury time with a corner that was headed over but we managed to work it back up the pitch where Long was going through again only for the Polish defender to throw himself to the ground and win a soft free.  This was in keeping with most of the game as the ref had been awarding frees for dives all day, something which I'd be critical of the Poles for.  It was the worst I've seen at Lansdowne from an opposition team since the Israel game in 2005. We managed to get one final chance with another corner from the same side we scored from but although Brady lofted a similar delivery in, a green shirt couldn't get on the end of it and as it was cleared the ref blew for full time.  

So, now that the elation of the equaliser has subsided, you have to ask the question, was it a point gained or two dropped?  I was concerned before the game from reading O'Neill's press conference when he said that 'defeat was not an option'  and that he might settle for a draw.  The first half was awful to be fair but there was a marked improvement in the second and he might have finally stumbled across a formation that might work with Hoolahan in the team.  Where that leaves Keane is a question as I think a front line of  Long and Walters with Hoolahan playing deep would work better than Robbie ploughing his furrow up there.  At this stage maybe bringing him off the bench in the bigger games should be the option and start him against the minnows.  McClean has certainly given the manager food for thought and McGeady hasn't really built on his matchwinning performance in Georgia.  I'm not sure if sticking with Given in goal is the future and as I said earlier, Forde must be well put out by it.  It could be worth sticking with Brady at left back to get him into the team for his dead ball delivery but he'll need to improve his defending.  A team of Forde, Brady, O'Shea, Wilson, Coleman, McGeady, McCarthy, McClean, Hoolahan, Walters and Long is probably how I'd start v Scotland in our next must win game.

Despite the last minute goal there was still a bit of a sense of disappointment that another home game has gone by without a victory but it has to be said that the draw at least keeps the group alive but it also leaves no margin for error when we play Scotland in June.  Lose or draw that and what will be left will be a campaign as disappointing as Trap's final campaign.  Win it and the bandwagon will most likely roll on to October when we visit Warsaw provided we beat Georgia at home.  We never do it the easy way but hopefully the second half becomes our template rather than the first! 

The Trouble with John

It's hard to know where to start considering all that's gone on in Irish football since my last blog following the game in Germany. Work commitments meant that I couldn't make the trip to Glasgow which was absolutely gutting especially considering the game was to be in Parkhead which is obviously a special venue, being the only ground in the UK to fly the Tricolour.

As it happened, I only got to see the last 15 minutes of the game live as we frantically chased an equaliser to no avail with what would have been an og from a Grant Hanley header that came back off the bar being the closest we came.  I watched the game in full the following day and the less said about it the better.

While there is an argument that the aforementioned Hanley should have been shown a straight red for bringing Shane Long down early in the game and having been booked should certainly have had a second yellow for a blatant elbow on David Forde the fact remains that tactically what we saw was the worst of Martin O'Neill.  Had it been Trapattoni in the dug out, I've no doubt the criticism would have rang far louder and longer and improvements will need to be made before the group picks up again in March.

As I said as soon as the draw was made, this is a real group of death and with Gordon Strachan making a lot more of his resources than O'Neill is with ours we have surrended the initiative to a degree.

With Poland having essentially 3 bonus points from their home win v Germany it is now imperative that we take 3 points from them at home in March and I really hope that we won't be taking a safety first approach into the game.

I did attend the friendly against the USA a few days later and while there were encouraging signs from what was essentially a second XI, especially the debuts of David McGoldrick and Cyrus Christie (I really wanted us to get a penalty purely so I could roar "Let Christie take it!!!" but it wasn't to be), the big story of the night was what went on in the Singing Section with the OTT response of the Gardai and the stewards to what was a peaceful protest about the lack of transparency regarding the ticket allocation for the Scotland game.

At the start of the campaign, myself along with thousands of others had put in our applications for this year's away games on the new FAI away ticket portal.  At the time I was toying with the idea of going to Georgia, was definitely going to Germany and although I knew that Glasgow was unlikely, had also applied for Scotland tickets just in case.

I heard nothing back until I got a mail the week before the Georgia game telling me that although I had not paid my deposit (which I had never been invoiced for) I had still been successful in my application and could I pay up.  I mailed back saying that I hadn't received the original invoice and although I now couldn't travel to Georgia that I would happily pay the deposits for Germany and Scotland once the outstanding amount for Georgia was deleted from my account.

I got a response back telling me that as the portal was now closed they couldn't delete the amount off but that not paying the deposits "won’t in any way affect your chances of obtaining your allocations for these games". Having been told that I left it at that and when I was allocated tickets for the Germany game I just paid up in full and thought no more about it.

Although I knew at this stage that I wouldn't make the Scotland game I obviously still had the application in. Given the lack of any transparent allocation system and with my Dad, a couple of cousins and other mates who travel regulalry also having applications in, I was still waiting to see if I'd be allocated anything so I could sort out them if they were unlucky. I was surprised not to get a mail one way or the other on the Friday when YBIG, Foot.ie and everywhere that Irish fans frequent online went into meltdown as seasoned traveler after seasoned traveler got their rejection letters.

When I contacted the FAI the following week I finally got a reply after a number of mails advising me that they had "spoken with Ticketmaster and they have confirmed that as you did not pay a deposit on your application, it was unsuccessful".  The fact that this completely contradicted what I had been told a couple of months previously didn't seem to be relevant.

Just to be clear, I'm not being critical of the general staff in the ticket office.  I've been dealing with various people in there for over twenty years and have always found them courteous and decent to deal with.  Any issues with allocation policy isn't laid at their feet.  The above is just an example of how poorly the allocation for this game was handled.

The fallout from the ticket allocation for the Scotland game has been well documented at this stage.  I personally spoke to someone who had never been to an away game before but had got one of 50 tickets allocated to the club he plays for.  I heard another case where a club that has been in existence for less than five years received a similar amount.

There was zero transparency in the information that was given to aggrieved fans despite the statement from the FAI which read "“Of the tickets confirmed to date, 1,700 went to supporters’ clubs, season ticket holders, Club Ireland members and known away supporters. 700 went to clubs and leagues. The fulfillment of contractual obligations also meant that there were fewer tickets available to the Association to distribute directly for this match – 481 went to Abbey Travel for supporters’ travel packages as per contract (15% of allocation) as official travel partner of the Association, and 128 went to sponsors. The remaining 200 tickets are divided between players, backroom team, FAI staff and team management".

Requests for a breakdown of the 1,700 tickets were ignored leading to a degree of online disagreement between independent travelers and those in supporters clubs who had got tickets.  Was this a deliberate attempt to divide the support?

Given the interest in the game it was no surprise that thousands of Irish fans bought up tickets in the Scotland ends of the ground.  The comments from John Delaney where he tried to push the blame onto the Scottish FA were extremely unhelpful.  It is entirely up to them as to how they allocate their tickets as long as they provide a minimum of 5% of capacity to the away team which is exactly what they did.

Delaney's consistent references to potential trouble as a result of Irish fans buying tickets in the home end were completely unnecessary and were in fact a slur on our own support and the Tartan Army with both groups having received commendations in the past for their good natured behaviour while following their team.  As expected the game passed off peacefully with only a few minor isolated incidents reported.

However, at no stage did Mr. Delaney take any responsibility for the ticketing debacle and indeed tried shifting the blame back to his own office by stating that an unnamed staff member had "dropped the ball" on it.  Shamefully, the visiting FAI delegation boycotted the usual pre match reception held by the hosting FA in a childish fit of pique.

It was against this background that a number of posters on YBIG.ie decided that they would hold a peaceful protest at the USA game the following Tuesday to highlight the ongoing ticketing issue.  I should point out that the Scotland scenario was not an isolated incident with similar happening on a smaller scale for games away to Andorra, Estonia and Switzerland in recent years.  The protest was to take place on the 12 minute mark (due to the YBIG supporters group being known as the 12th man) when banners supporting the team were to be taken down and banners protesting to be waved.

To be honest, myself and the usual crew were on our normal spot in the Singing Section and expected any protect to fizzle out relatively quickly as getting anything to catch on around the stadium has been difficult in recent years.  And that's what I think would have happened had the response from the Gardai and stewards not been as disproportionate as I've seen in a long time.

As soon as the first banners were unfurled a number of Gardai and stewards steamed straight in grabbing and confiscating banners and dragging those waving them out of the crowd.  This was all under the supervision of Joe McGlue, the FAI security officer who was seen in section 114 at the time.  I personally saw 2 lads kicked out for trying to argue their case in a non violent manner.

Some of the lads had a copy of the stadium regulations with them which clearly stated that their banners were not considered offensive under the regulations to no avail.  In fact, in one instant a steward simply tore up the regulations and threw the paper back at the fan.

Do we really need to ask under who's instruction this happened? What transpired was indicative of the dictatorial manner in which the FAI is run and in typical FAI fashion was a huge own goal which led to the coverage of the protest being multiplied tenfold.

However, just as that incident seemed about to blow over, things got even stranger.

In recent times, John Delaney has taken on another role as a favourite of the gossip column set with the Sunday Independent's resident social butterfly, Barry Egan, taking a special interest in Delaney's new relationship.  A detailed spread in last Sunday's edition spoke in glowing terms about Dublin's new golden couple who, having wowed the punters with an impromptu sing song in the Bath pub around the corner from Lansdowne Road, had decamped for a break in "Marbs" (Marbella apparently), a place they were "lighting up with their passionate intensity".

The only problem was that when a video showing said sing song had been posted on the sports website Balls.ie showing Delaney singing the Wolfe Tones song Joe McDonnell about the hunger strikes, they had swiftly been contacted by the FAI advising them to take the article featuring the clip down or face legal action as it 'wasn't John Delaney in the video'. Not having the wherewithal to defend a potential legal case, Balls.ie reluctantly agreed to do so.

However, as we all know, once something is published online it is exceptionally difficult to get it offline.  Given that this incident happened on the same night that English fans were criticised by their own FA for singing anti IRA songs at their game with Scotland, a story about the CEO of the FAI singing a republican song was generating interest in the UK and both the Guardian and the Telegraph were preparing to run the story over the water when they were contacted by London based law firm Debello Law in which a representative of the firm stated that: “My client’s position is simply that it is not him singing in the video. If you take the decision to publish legal proceedings will follow as it will undoubtedly cause various issues for my client.”  Both papers took the threat seriously and held off publishing while they tried to get verification that it was indeed Delaney in the video.

In the meantime, Emmet Malone, perhaps emboldened by Barry Egan's piece in the Sindo which referenced the sing song, pushed for publication and The Irish Times ran the story on their front page on Wednesday morning.  While this was going on on the Tuesday night a further statement was released by Mr. Delaney's partner, Emma English,  referencing some distasteful posts made regarding her which had been posted on YBIG and stating that this was tantamount to cyber bullying.

Although the posts were removed as soon as moderators on the site were made aware of them and an apology on behalf of the site along with an offer of a donation to a charity of her choice immediately issued, both John Delaney and Emma English refused to accept the apology.

It was strange watching the swing of the moral high ground for want of a better expression over the few days. Obviously as fans, we had it following the heavy handed response to the protest at the US game last week.  This changed a bit Tuesday night with the utterly unacceptable posts on YBIG regarding Emma Engish, I appreciate it was only a few unacceptable comments but they were visible on a public site and resulted in damage to the YBIG reputation as our name was dragged through the mud in a lot of the media as Delaney undertook his whistle stop tour of the nations airwaves and used it to deflect away from questions regarding his own judgement.

However, Delaney then scored a spectacular og by instructing his legal team to deny it was him in the videot. It's embarrassing behaviour and indicative of the dictatorial attitude of the man. Despite him still trying to spin the cyber bullying angle every chance he got, it is the instruction to his legal team that is being questioned by journalists across the board now.

Although the comments made regarding his relationship were completely out of line and should be condemned, it should also be noted that it was some comments on a message board that needed to be searched for, it wasn't her Facebook or Twitter account that people were posting on.  As already stated the comments were removed and those responsible banned from the site.  In an ironic twist, Ms English has now deleted her own Twitter account after re-tweeting numerous tweets that others had made attacking Emmet Malone for running the story.  Surely, that is as tantamount to cyber bullying as the unacceptable comments made regarding her?

As for the song, I've no issue with rebel songs and anyone who knows me can vouch for many I've sung on trips during the years.  However, what I do have a problem with is the consistent oafish behaviour of a man who is pulling in a salary of nearly €400k while running the FAI as a personal fiefdom and overseing debacle after debacle whether that's with the LOI, schoolboy football, issue of tickets etc.

A man in his position should not be filmed getting carried shoulder high off a train in Slovakia while obviously drunk as a lord, carried shoeless and shoulder high while drunk again in Poland or singing what is clearly a contentious song for someone who has to deal in their job with associations from the North and England, let alone the Scots.  If he wants so badly to be one of the lads then fine, jack it in and let someone take over who can carry themselves with the decorum that the CEO of a major sporting organisation earning his salary should do.

If he is as private a person as he claims, then he should not be splashing his new relationship all over the media, making a documentary that Alan Partridge would probably reject (http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/exclusive-video-john-the-baptist-part-1-30562269.html) or having gushing articles by Barry Egan all over the gossip pages in the Sindo.

His public statements on the various issues have been as hamfisted and embarrassing as I'd expect.  He claims to have been un-contactable on Tuesday as he was taking all of what must have been a two and a half hour flight back from "Marbs" and stated "I now understand that while I was travelling and un-contactable there was some confusion through a third party around the background of a video which appeared and where it happened which led to misunderstanding."

This obviously begs the question of on whose instruction was the same legal threat made the previous Saturday to Balls.ie where the clip originally appeared?  And why he would not have been made aware of the situation with Balls.ie over the weekend?  Surely his mobile phone wouldn't have been off all weekend.

There are also further questions to be asked regarding the legal threats made to Balls.ie, The Guardian and The Telegraph.  The statement from Debello Law stated "My client’s position is simply that it is not him singing in the video. If you take the decision to publish legal proceedings will follow as it will undoubtedly cause various issues for my client.” which clearly indicates that the client in question is John Delaney.  Who is paying for what would obviously be expensive legal advice?  Is it John Delaney himself or is it being funded by the FAI and by extension the fans who pay for tickets etc.

Also, Delaney has spent most of the week arguing that an Irishman singing a song in an Irish pub is nothing to be ashamed of which runs counter to the instruction given to Drbello Law where they state "it will undoubtedly cause various issues".  If, as he argues, there is nothing to answer for regarding the song then why the cack handed attempt to suppress the story?  The fact that he has stated that this was him singing at a "private" event despite it happening in a public house (the clue is in the name) is truly staggering and again shows that his understanding of the difference between what is considered public and private to be skewed in the extreme.

I can't see him being sacked over this though, people need to understand that for right or wrong, John Delaney IS the FAI these days. He's surrounded himself with cronies and acolytes, all of whom essentially earn their corn through his say so.

That said, with rumours of further stories set to hit the news stands with Sunday's papers, who knows where this might end.  I don't think we've heard the last of it yet and last Sundays's gossip columns must seem a long time ago now.

Friends in Löw Places

A combination of the poor standard of the opposition, an early morning flight and the fact that plenty of recovery time was needed on Sunday to get ready for a morning flight to Germany after the pre and post game beers at Saturday's facile 7-0 victory over Gibraltar meant the lack of A False First XI on that game.  To be honest, there wasn't much that could be said about it, Gibraltar were by far the worst team I've seen us play in all my years going to games and having gone 7 up on 57 minutes I was actually disappointed not to see us beat our record score set in 1983 when we put 8 past Malta.  But it's splitting hairs to be moaning about a 7-nil victory and by the time Monday morning rolled around the fact that we were heading to Germany with the maximum 6 points on the board had put a spring in the step of the fans thronged around Dublin airport making their way to various departure gates to flights going to the various German airports that were within striking distance of the Ruhr valley by train.

My own flight was into Bremen and had a fair few fans on it that were making their way down towards Düsseldorf (in the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area), Essen and Gelsenkirchen which were the three main bases that the support had stationed themselves in.  As Terry the Tash and an advance guard of the London Irish boys had made their way over on Sunday and Philly and Greg weren't travelling till Tuesday, I was travelling alone but there was plenty of chat about the game on the plane and as soon as we touched down myself and a couple of Galway lads jumped on the tram outside the airport and managed to make a 12:44 train heading in the direction of Düsseldorf with seconds to spare.  As the next train wasn't for another hour we were chuffed to make the early one which got the lads to Gelsenkirchen and myself to Dusseldorf by around 4 in the afternoon.  A quick freshen up after checking in to the hotel I made a quick call to find out where the lads were and took a stroll up to the old town and down to the banks of the Rhine for a couple of the local Altbier, which for a man fond of an ale like myself was a great change from the lager more prevalent elsewhere in Germany.  The views from the riverbank as the sun started setting was class and Düsseldorf seemed a great setting to have based ourselves in.

Given the advancement of the age profile of most of the lads I see on these trips, eating a decent meal rather than just relying on a kebab at the end of the night is necessary, so having moved on from the riverbank we hit a traditional Brauhaus for some typical German fare and treated ourselves to some pork knuckle, roast potatoes and sauerkraut.  The craic was good and once we'd eaten our fill we moved back up through the town and decamped to the local Irish bar, McLaughlins, to catch some of the Dundalk v. Shamrock Rovers match and see if any of the other YBIG'ers were around.  I generally prefer heading to a few local bars on trips rather than sticking to the ubiquitous Irish pub that each city has but, in their favour, they do tend to be good meeting spots and the atmosphere is always lively.  As it happened, this one was in the middle of a strip of bars and the balmy evening made it pretty easy to drop in and out of the various places and mix it up a bit.  As some of our usual number, such as the Quinn Towers, Caimin, Karl and the Brummies were based in Gelsenkirchen and Essen respectively it was a good chance to meet a few others and a good laugh was had with a few of the Derry lads and lasses from YBIG (shout out to SHH and his gang) before I wound up in a local bar round the corner with a few Cork heads having a bit of a sing song.  By the time I came back around to McLoughlins, it had closed but Terry, Peter and a few of the lads were in another local bar across the road.  A couple of night caps later we were astonished to see it was around 4:30 and deciding discretion was the better part of valour, we left a few of the lads to carry the torch and jumped a cab back to the hotel.

Spot the sauerkraut

A few hours sleep later and matchday dawned without too much of a hangover from the previous night although the throat was already feeling pretty raw from the singing!  My room mate for the couple of days, Tommy, had rolled into the room at about 10am so I was feeling pretty happy to have bailed out when I did.  Another couple of mates were arriving that morning so when I got a call from Philly to say himself and Greg had arrived, we decided that getting moving relatively early in the day was the best course of action so a plan was put together to meet up with a few of the others and head to Essen where the Brummies were based and have a drink and food there pre match  before getting the train up to Gelsenkirchen to hit the fanzone outside the ground around 6.  From all reports, they're wasn't a huge amount in Gelsenkirchen itself so a lot of the Irish support seemed to be congregating in Essen and we had a great afternoon sitting outside in the sunshine catching up with familiar faces as they arrived before heading up by train and then tram to the ground.  The ground itself is a fair distance outside the city but the atmosphere was good on both the train and tram rides with plenty of classics such as "The 12 Days of Paul McGrath", "A Team of Gary Breens" and "The Lonesome Boatman"ensuring that any recovery on the vocal chords would have to wait!  More friends were met up with at the ground where the excitement was building nicely although as most of us were thinking the World Champions would be looking to bounce back from their disastrous defeat to Poland on Saturday, the pre match nerves weren't as pronounced as they've been in the past.  Soon enough it was time to go in and having walked around the ground to our area we made our way in in plenty of time for a rousing rendition of Amhran na Bhfiann and got ready for game time!

Shalke's home ground, the Veltins-Arena

First things first and there are a few things to crib about on the team that Martin O'Neill picked for the game.  I questioned Robbie Keane's suitability for the lone striker role in the blog after the Georgia game and have indeed questioned it during the Trap era.  Even at his peak this was never a role best suited to him and, while there is still no doubt he's our best finisher by a mile, his effectiveness in playing in games like this means questions rightfully have to be asked.  I had thought that Shane Long not getting a run at all over the weekend had him in pole position to start this game but O'Neill really doesn't seem to fancy him for whatever reason although it may just be down to his current indifferent club form.  I've also said on previous blogs that Aiden McGeady's inconsistent end product means he was worth a go in the hole behind a lone striker but I don't think that a game against the World Champions and in behind Keane rather than a player such as Long or even Jon Walters was the time for that particular experiment.  The return of Glen Whelan and Stephen Quinn at the expense of Jeff Hendrick and Darron Gibson indicated to me that we'd attempt to soak up pressure and that we could struggle to retain possession as did Walters' inclusion ahead of Wes Hoolahan, ostensibly to add additional cover to David Myler in his unfamiliar left back role.  As the game began this issue with possession soon came to pass and those missing pre match nerves came back with a bang on 5 minutes as Erik Durm unleashed a cracking shot from 25 yards that cannoned back off the crossbar.

However, although the pattern around possession remained the same, we were managing to defend stoutly and despite one headed chance from a set play, Germany weren't really getting in behind us or threatening our goal.  The only real chance we had to ease the pressure was from a free after a foul on Keane but when the ball came back to Whelan a few yards back from the penalty area, his safety first instinct kicked in and the ball was played back to halfway without us creating a chance.  The first half continued in the same vein and bar an opportunity when a slack pass from Marc Wilson was charged down and although Forde came from his area to get to the ball ahead of Thomas Muller, instead of booting it to row Z, he tried to control the ball but mishit it straight to the opposition although they failed to create anything with the chance and the ball was eventually cleared.  A couple more half chances were all that were created with a shot from local boy Julian Draxler straight into Forde's chest on the dot of half time summing up the lack of incisiveness on the part of the hosts.

So, half time and O'Neill's gameplan for a nil all was still alive and we hunkered down for more of the same for another 45 minutes. Jogi Löw reacted to the goalless first half and our lack of possession by removing his defensive midfielder,Matthias Ginter and replacing him with the Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski.  The change did give Germany a little more impetus but bar a couple of long range shots that went wide, the second half began to pan out in a similar fashion to the first with an early half chance for Ireland from a McClean cross that Neuer saved at Keane's feet before the Germans regained control for a spell until Tony Kroos let go a swerving shot that David Forde did well to claw over the bar for a corner which also coughed up another chance that was blocked by James McClean's trailing leg.  Just before that, Whelan had succumbed to a knock and been replaced by Hendrick and the pressure was beginning to build but with every minute that passed the hope from the away end started to grow that we somehow might hang on.  Another substitution followed with Gibson replacing Keane and Walters moving up front with McGeady moving back to his more natural position out wide.  We seemed to be getting a few breaks as the game reached the 70 minute mark with a couple of penalty calls waved away (one never a pen, the other I've seen given on occasion) but just as we started to believe it might be our night disaster struck.

When the ball fell out to Kroos he was in exactly the sort of position that we'd been closing down all night.  However, although it seemed like Quinn had the time to get out and at least try and put the player off, he held back for a second and allowed Kroos to take a couple of touches and arrow a shot in off the post.  Joy for the home fans in the ground but to be fair to our support, who hadn't stopped singing all game, as soon as we tipped off again the roar of "Come On You Boys In Green!" began again as we tried to lift the team. While Germany remained on top in the immediate aftermath of the goal, O'Neill made his final change in bringing Wes Hoolahan on for Stephen Quinn and as the game reached the last 10 minutes after another great save from Forde, this time from Mario Gotze, the Germans seemed to settle for 1-0 and started sitting back a bit, allowing us more time to work something on the ball.  I was worried any chance we had might be gone when Stephen Ward, who'd probably had his best game for Ireland to that point, pulled up with an injury that was effectively reducing us to 10 men but he battled on bravely and our pressure increased as the Germans sat deeper and deeper.

On 85 minutes, McClean, another man who'd played very well defensively on the night and had been one of the few getting into attacking positions, got the ball on the left and managed to slide a ball into Hoolahan that looked certain to be the equaliser only for Erik Durm to somehow slide over and get a block in.  It's fair to say that nearly all the Irish fans in the ground turned to each other and said "That was the chance" at that moment and with the clock running down it seemed unlikely that we'd create another opportunity as good as it.  In fact, although we were now enjoying our best spell of possession we didn't really get near their penalty area again until stoppage time.  In the first minute of it another half chance arrived but Hoolahan dithered on the ball when he had options left and right and was tackled.  However, the Germans were getting decidedly nervy and we immediately won a free around the halfway line which was pumped forward to McClean who hit a cross-shot that pin-balled around the box before going out for a throw.  Despite giving away possession straight from the throw the composure on the ball normally associated with this German side had gone and the ball was just booted back to the half way line where Wilson returned it and it went out for another throw,

At this stage, I was nearly convinced that the 4 minutes stoppage time was up so was screaming for the ball to be put back in the box but when the ball came back to Hoolahan from McGeady it looked like the cross was too deep and the chance was gone.  What happened next was one of those moments that will go down in the annals of Irish soccer history and led to possibly the biggest celebration in the stands since Robbie Keane's stoppage time equaliser in Japan in 2002!  Jeff Hendrick somehow managed to hook the ball back across the box and, in fairytale fashion on his hundredth cap, John O'Shea managed to get himself across Matt Hummels and connect with the outside of his right boot to find the corner of the net!  Cue absolute mayhem in the stands as the heady mix of elation and disbelief cascaded through the away section!

View of celebrations from German stand

It's moments like that that make all the early starts, the travelling and the bad results worthwhile,  There's always something special about a late goal such as Keane's equaliser v Italy a few years back but that was a game we'd really been on top in and in fact we had another chance to win it in the couple of minutes after that.  This time the celebrations were still going on when Germany tipped off again and the ref blew for full time to up the decibel level another notch just as it was beginning to subside.  It must have been at keast 3 or 4 minutes of full on screaming, bouncing around, hugging your mates, hugging total strangers and laughing our heads off !  A truly special moment.  The reception the team got as they came back to our end to applaud the fans was a great moment as well and after a result like that it's one of those times you're happy enough to wait around the ground for the extra few minutes it takes to be allowed out. 

Spot the sour kraut ;)

The atmosphere walking out of the ground and back onto the concourse was something else as well and even the snail pace tram journey back to Gelsenkirchen which led to us missing our direct train back to Düsseldorf wasn't enough to dampen our spirits and gave us a bit of time to meet up with a few others who'd been in other sections of the ground and share a celebratory drink with them as we waited for a connecting train to Essen.  Even a comedy moment from Brummie Bren as he failed to mind the gap getting onto the train and promptly fell straight between the platform and the train before being dragged back up by us couldn't wipe the smile off his face despite the resultant bad gash on the leg and sorry for laughing mate but it was comedy gold seeing you drop about 3 feet and bounce off the train but was glad to see you weren't too badly hurt!  When the lads staying in Essen got off we said our goodbyes and decided to jump a taxi back rather than waiting another 40 minutes for the next train.

A lot of the support had been delayed getting back to Düsseldorf but there was still a good crew back in McLaughlins when we got back there around 1.30.  That said, a lot of energy seemed to have been sapped by the time people had made their journeys so after a few beers around that strip of local bars, a chat with a few fans and locals and an essential donar kebab, myself, Philly and Greg bailed back to the hotel around 4.30 and called it a night.

The following day brought the usual combination of a hangover tempered by a sense of elation that you get after a good result.  A 3.25 flight meant we didn't have to get on the road too early and also that we missed the nightmare that some had due to the train strike from 2 that afternoon that no one seemed to be aware of and the bomb scare in Dusseldorf airport that caused the delay and cancellation of a number of flights that evening and night.  Lucky for us really because at that stage I just wanted to get back and sink into my sofa.  On checking the Irish paper's websites that morning, I'd seen a bit of controversy had erupted from the analysis by the holy trinity of Irish punditry in Dunphy, Giles and Brady.  We'd heard from texts during the game that Dunphy had called Martin O'Neill "Trapattoni with a Derry accent"  but before making a call on it I wanted to see what they'd said for myself so once I'd settled in at home I stuck on the RTE player and went to the end (stopping to relive O'Shea's goal en route!).  While there are some valid points made around team selection and our ball retention which was poor for the first 80 minutes with numerous misplaced simple passes, it has to be said that some of the analysis borders on the farcical, in particular Dunphy's comments.  Eamon always has to have a cause celebre and unfortunately for Wes Hoolohan, he's the man who has taken this mantle in recent times.  I've always had time for Hoolahan as a player since his Shels days and was delighted to see him have a great game on Saturday albeit against Gibraltar.  However, it did him no favours to have Dunphy lauding him as a game changer on Tuesday night when the impact on his game had been limited at best.  There were 3 occasions when he lost the ball in similar fashion to players earlier in the game, one in particular when he had great options in McClean and Walters on either side of him.  And claiming that he was the architect of the goal when he had in fact seriously over hit the cross leaving Hendrick with a huge amount to do to get the final ball across was frankly laughable.  The fact that Dunphy didn't even mention Hendrick's superb assist added another element of farce to it.  And while Glen Whelan my not be everyone's cup of tea, Dunphy's consistent spiteful belittling of him is tantamount the the sort of bullying behaviour that he claims to hate.  I'd argue that Whelan was part of the reason why we hadn't conceded while he was on the pitch and that there's a fair chance he'd have been there to close down Kroos for the goal as he'd been doing that all game.  And Liam Brady's credibility was done no favours when he'd described David Meyler, who'd done a great job at right back for a midfielder being played out of position, as a Championship player despite the fact he's plied his trade with Hull in the Premier League for the last year and a half. 

John Giles was a bit more balanced but I can't agree with his idea that we'd have been better off going toe to toe with Germany over 90 minutes.  Martin O'Neill has always had a streak of conservatism in him and there's more than one way to skin a cat so he was perfectly entitled to set up defensively for an away game against the World Champions.  To me, the game swung on 3 things, Germany sat back after they scored (which is possibly reflective of their current lack of confidence), we started pushing forward a bit as we tried to get something from the game after falling behind and the manager made a number of positive changes to take advantage of the above.  For all the talk of the difference Gibson and Hendrick made with their passing ability when they came on, both were on the pitch when we conceded and it was really only the last 10 minutes when we started getting a real foothold in the game rather than from 70 minutes as Giles has said since on radio and in his Herald column today. Had Germany not scored when they did it's unlikely they would have sat back in the manner they did and its impossible to say with any certainty that we'd have got the space to play our way back into the game.  By all means have a philosophy about the game but there has to be an acceptance that there are different ways to approach a game and I feel that focusing on the positives rather than the negatives would have been a more suitable way to analyse the game but it seemed to me that they had their angle prepared before our last gasp equaliser and weren't prepared to change it.  Goals change games may be a cliche but it's true.  They also change away trips and with that swing of his right boot John O'Shea put this one right up near the top!! 

Georgia Off Our Minds

Pressure of work along with an upcoming trip to Italy for a friend's wedding meant that a trip to Tbilisi for Martin O'Neill's first competitive game in charge had to be sacrificed so I had to settle with meeting a few friends to watch the All Ireland Hurling final followed immediately afterwards by the match.  Having been glad to see the team return to winning ways at Lansdowne against Oman the previous Wednesday in what was admittedly a game played at a training pace, I was very curious to see what 11 O'Neill would put out in what was a potential banana skin in what is probably the hardest qualifying group for Euro 2016.  The excitement of the Hurling was a nice precursor to what I'd consider the main event of the day but the surprise I got when I checked my phone during half time of the final and saw the selected team definitely took my attention away from Croke Park as I tried to get my head around how the team would line up.

I've previously said that O'Neill's style would be a slight evolution from the style favoured by Trap rather than a massive sea change and the selected team certainly backed that up with players that have been labelled as Trap favourites such as Ward, Whelan and Walters all present and correct and a continuation of what has always been a failed experiment with Robbie Keane cast in the lone striker role.  My biggest surprise was to see Wes Hoolahan on the bench with Stephen Quinn given the nod in midfield for his first competitive start.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?  The other main talking point was the retention of David Forde as the number one keeper following the return of Shay Given to the fold.  I was glad to see that the nonsense written in parts of the media that Given was insisting on being guaranteed a game turned out to the just that. Forde has never let Ireland down since claiming the shirt and while I've no issue with Given coming back, you can't give guarantees like that in football and it would have sent out a very bad message.  I never felt that O'Neill was the type of manager to operate in that way and was happy to see that feeling borne out.

I've always quite liked Stephen Quinn as a player.  I'd seen his brother Alan get a number of caps during the Brian Kerr era but Stephen had always looked the better player from what I'd seen of both of them so his ascension into the squad was possibly a bit belated. That said, it was still surprising to see him lining out in midfield as the game kicked off ahead of Hoolahan who seems to have been consistently overlooked in important games by a number of managers at this stage both at club and international level.and who has now become the RTE panel's (Eamon Dunphy in particular) latest cause celebre.

So onto the game itself, and as it took those of us watching a few minutes to adjust to the pace of the game after the breathless helter skelter finale that Kilkenny and Tipperary had served up this was mirrored on the pitch as Ireland started a bit slowly bar a lively first minute but by around the 15 minute mark had begun to dominate possession albeit without much of a cutting edge.  However, as often happens, when the goal came it was from old style route one despite the fact that our best spell of possession had just preceded it!

A bit of scrappy play in the Irish defence had ended with a goal kick and Forde duly pumped it long.  When it landed on Walters' head he flicked it on towards Keane who dummied it leaving James McCarthy to run onto it. McCarthy then looked up and saw Aiden McGeady who had drifted in form the left and played a perfectly weighted ball to allow McGeady to bend his run back to the left to create an angle on the keeper from where he finished beautifully!  1-0 Ireland and it was probably deserved at that stage.

Unfortunately, old habits seem to die hard and despite having gained the initiative and looking quite comfortable since the goal our lead was wiped out within 10 minutes. There seemed to be little danger when  a long ball came forward to the Georgian midfielder Okriashvili but both Ward and O'Shea stood off him giving him time to turn.  Despite the space allowed, I doubt that as he got his shot off even he could believe the trajectory of it as it swerved and dipped at the last minute dropping under the bar and left Forde with no chance.  The dip on the shot was so severe that I initially assumed the ball must have deflected off someone on it's way.  However, replays clearly show that it was just a once in a lifetime shot and, to give credit where it's due, was a stunning goal.  I've seen some questions asked of Forde regarding the goal but it was the sort of shot that I couldn't have seen any keeper saving.  Conceding like that definitely seemed to hit the belief of the Irish players and the remaining 7 minutes to half time was our worst spell of the game and the break came at the right time for us.

The second half started similarly enough to how the first finished but as the game developed we gradually regained a foothold, possibly helped by the slow tempo in general which may have been a result of the evening heat.  For me, bringing on the likes of Hoolahan with around 30 minutes to go would have been the decision to make but it was 15 minutes later before Robbie Brady and Shane Long were introduced for Quinn and Keane.  However, this didn't seem to spark us into life and although we were dominating possession again as Georgia seemed to the settling for a point, our final ball was lacking again and bar a McGeady effort just before the substitutions where he turned and cracked a shot just over the bar we weren't really creating anything of note.

McGeady at this stage seemed to have taken a more central position which I'll elaborate on later and it was from this position that he individually turned what looked like 2 points dropped into an away win which could prove vital come the end of the campaign.  Seamus Coleman's distribution had been pretty poor by his standards but as the game reached the last minute he was at least still getting forward although there appeared to be little danger as he played the ball into McGeady who had his back to goal.  What happened next was as skillful a piece of play as I've seen from anyone in an Ireland shirt in all the years I've been watching us.  Taking one touch to control the ball, his second touch was a perfectly executed Cruyff turn to take the ball away from the defender which was immediately followed by a further flick to gain an extra yard and finally he wrapped his left foot around the ball and hit a prefect shot to bury it past the keeper! 2-1 Ireland and you could see the belief drain from the Georgians meaning we were able to close out the game easily throughout stoppage time and bank the 3 points.

It was undoubtedly McGeady's most telling contribution in his 70 caps and was great to see.  He's often been a frustrating player in Ireland's colours as it's been clear since he first came on the scene that he has loads of ability but his end product from out wide had often been lacking which crosses and indeed corners regularly hitting the first man and he's also suffered from being double marked on occasion.  I've thought for a while that he could potentially do a job in the number 10 position in the hole behind the main striker and both his goals came from that general area.  If the manager doesn't trust Hoolahan to do that job in tight games then it could be worth considering McGeady for that role in the future.  He seems to be growing into things at Everton since his move and it's safe to say had Messi or Ronaldo scored a goal like that this week it would still be on a loop on Sky Sports News, it really was that good.

Another thing to take from the game is that we really can't afford to play Keane as the lone man up front.  I've always been huge fan of Robbie but even at his peak he was never that effective playing that role.  He;s still capable of playing as part of a two with the likes of Long up front or even with a playmaker like Hoolahan (or McGeady?) playing balls through but despite the fact that he is still the only natural finisher in the squad we just don't create the chances for him to finish when we're set up like we were on Sunday.  We need to come up with another plan for games like that because it doesn't work as it is.

So overall the 2nd goal puts a completely different perspective on things with a home game to Gibraltar to come before I get back on the away trip bandwagon for the Germany game in October.  6 points on the board at that stage should be a given and although Scotland's performance against them was a bit worrying they've struggled in Georgia before and there's always the chance that they or Poland could drop points there.  The result and in some ways the performance was reminiscent of the start of the 3 Trap campaigns where we picked up maximum points away to Georgia (albeit in the neutral venue of Mainz), away to Armenia and finally with that get out of jail performance in Kazakhstan which Sunday was definitely an improvement on.  The second place finish of the first two campaigns would give us automatic qualification this time around so fingers crossed!!