Ireland v Faroe Islands, October 13th 2004 (2-0)

This will always be remembered as the night that Robbie Keane broke Niall Quinn’s Irish goal scoring record by bagging his 22nd and 23rd goals for our country. This is a fantastic achievement at such a young age and because of his doing so, I won’t be too hard on him in my version of last nights events in Ballsbridge. Had it not been for his re-writing of the record books, I’d have been very tempted to have ago at him for not getting at least two more and for generally being downright lazy. But, we’ll excuse his prima donna performance due to the fact that his early brace secured the all-important three points. After the highs of Paris on Saturday we were brought swiftly back to earth by a lacklustre performance that almost put me to sleep. I suppose though, it must have been hard for the Boys in Green to raise themselves for a match against a few fisherman in a dilapidated old rugby ground after taking on some of the worlds best in one of the planets great sporting arenas only a couple of days beforehand.

Right from the off you just had a feeling that it was gonna be one of those days. We decided to take thePeoplesFlag car for one last trip to a football game before she gets re-sprayed to her original colour. Big mistake. We’ve got caught a few times now by our capital city’s traffic gridlock and this is definitely the last time we’ll be driving to Lansdowne Road. A full two hours after leaving Leixlip, Shaun and I trudged up the steps of the South Terrace, having missed the National anthems and the first four minutes of action. We’d already let Karl & Ruth bale out so that they’d catch the start while I searched frantically for a parking spot around the streets of D4. Never again !!!! We never even got to meet up with Donogh, Niall & Eamon in the Beggars Bush beforehand but they obviously made it as I saw the flag itself on the North Terrace wall as I took my seat.

Ireland started well and the crowd were right behind them. It was an exceptional atmosphere considering the lowly opposition but I guess the result in Paris has buoyed all football supporters on our fair Isle. Finnan had a couple of early chances, one a free from the edge of the box which was turned around the post by the visiting keeper and then a header from a lovely Andy Reid cross which I thought he should’ve buried. However we didn’t have to wait too long for the first goal. The Duffer was looking sharp and after 13 minutes he picked up the ball not far into opposition territory and went off on one of his typically mazy runs. He was way too hot to handle for the fishermen’s defence and he was assaulted as he approached the six yard box. Definite penalty. Up stepped Robbie for his moment of glory and he duly dispatched the spot kick into the corner despite the best efforts of Mikkelsen in the Faroes goal.

With Reid pulling the strings on the left and the Duffer willing to have a go every time he got possession the Faroes were really on the back foot. A second goal was inevitable as we poured forward at every opportunity and it duly came on 33 minutes. A brilliant through ball by our red-headed footballing genius put Judas away. To his credit, instead of shooting himself, he squared it to Robbie who needed two bites at the cherry before slotting home. Two up and over an hours football to be played. Suddenly the six goals that the Swiss had put past this shower didn’t look all that impressive. Another 1 or 2 before the hour mark and they would surely capitulate in the last half hour of the game when they begin to tire. Yeah right. Believe it or not this was actually the end of the scoring !!! An Irish team, almost completely made up of Premiership stars, playing at home, with a packed house behind them, couldn’t manage to score against the Faroe Island part-timers in over an hour of football. That is the stuff of deep depression. It proved one thing though. Damien Duff is not a striker. He takes up completely different positions to someone like Clinton. He was often the one who was out wide supplying the crosses and we only had one man in the box. And this one man rarely made a run to the near post where the majority of the Duffers crosses were mopped up by a grateful defence. Clinton would’ve had a field day out there last night and might have threatened the new goal scoring record himself !!!!!!

A couple of minutes after scoring his second, Robbie did actually make a run to the near post to meet a Duffer cross and connected with a decent header. However, Faroes man-of-the-match, Mikkelsen was equal to it and prevented him from notching his first ever International hat-trick with a good save low to his right. He saved well from Duff after the magician brilliantly beat two players and fired in a shot and then Andy Reid blasted wide when in a good position. Half time arrived and we were reasonably satisfied. All the action had been down the North Terrace end of the ground so we were looking forward to seeing some football down our end and seeing the net directly in front of us bulge a few times. All in all we hadn’t played too badly. We had kept the ball well and controlled possession but our final ball and finishing are still not up to scratch.

The second half began with more of the same. Ireland piled forward. Judas even made a burst into the box but his age showed as he never had the legs to get to it. He had a sly little kick at Mikkelsen in frustration as the keeper gathered the ball but thankfully didn’t connect. Another brilliant Duff run resulted in his cross to Robbie being sliced away and Kilbane then played in the Ballyboden youngster with an exquisite slide-rule pass but he dragged his shot wide of the far post. Shoulda scored Damo !!!! We continued to make the odd chance but the football in the second period was no-where near as controlled. Slack marking, shabby passing, missed tackles and no-one pressurising the ball were the order of the day for the remainder of the match All these in addition to the obligatory crap final ball and dreadful finishing. It was not a performance that would fill you with pride. Duff fired over when he should have done better and then a brilliant chance fell to Stevie Finnan who instead of putting his head to a cross which would have given Mikkelsen no chance, he took it on his chest, the ball squirmed to Robbie and his shot was saved bravely by the keeper.

Robbie was put through for a couple of one on ones with the keeper but each time he came off second best. Wasteful to say the least. One of these was played to him by Liam Miller who had replaced O’Shea ten minutes into the second half. This was the only thing he contributed in the time he was on the pitch and will soon find himself out of this squad if he doesn’t buck himself up. All that talent and potential but it is taking a long time to come through. Get a grip Liam and start showing us what you are capable of. Gary Doherty also came on and did quite well but we continued to waste chance after chance. Miller blazed over and Doherty had a shot well saved and there was just no way they were letting us through for a third. The announcer then gave us a bit of laugh by informing us that Judas was the Eircom man of the match. They’re obviously trying to get him to show up next month for our return to Friendly action. If that was their objective, I’ve a gut feeling that their little ploy won’t work. Bound to be a rib injury or groin strain or court case of some sort that will keep him out !!!

Before I sign off I’d just like to commend the Faroes. They defended admirably and stuck to their guns even after going two down. Credit too to their supporters who were in a corner of the North Terrace. They made plenty of noise and I look forward to meeting a few of them when we head over in June. Plenty of football to come before then though. See you in the Beggars Bush before the Croatia game next month when public transport and a few beverages to loosen the vocal chords will be the order of the day.

Slán

Ciaran