Another disappointing International window for Ireland

Another International week has passed and like so many of them in the previous decade it was another disappointing one for Irish supporters. While there was a small shining light in the for of us when we beat Finland 1-0 at the Aviva on Thursday night, Sunday’s 5-0 loss to England was a big disappointment. 

Against Finland we were very lucky to get the win, and the biggest moment of the game came in the second half when we needed a Caoimhin Kelleher penalty save to get us the victory. While were lucky it doesn’t really matter because we got the victory, and international football is all about all about the results not the performances. 

It was really pleasing to see Evan Ferguson score the only goal of the game and score his first goal for Ireland in over a year. He has had a difficult year because of injuries and form of other players at club level with Brighton and he scored his first Brighton goal for eleven months recently too. 

Hopefully these goals will be the catalyst for Ferguson to go on and fulfil the potential that we all know he has a and be that forward talisman that we have been craving at international level since Robbie Keane retired.

SERIOUS GULF OF CLASS

The England game was always a game that was always going to be tough for us to get something from. There is a serious gulf in class between both squads whether we like it or not. To get anything from a game like England away you need to be heroic defensively for the ninety minutes and then score on the break or from a set play to punish them. 

We did defend excellent for the opening half to get to half time nil all but two quick yellow cards either side of half time for Liam Scales was a real nail in the coffin for us with the second coming while giving a penalty away which was a double whammy for us. Once that first goal goes in, we had a mountain to climb, and it was very disappointing the way we capitulated in a five-minute period and going from 0-0 to 3-0 down and clinging on to dear life in Wembley. Two more goals gave England a 5-0 win and it was a thoroughly deserved victory with the margin of victory a fair reflection especially when the red card came.

The one what if moment was when Evan Ferguson was dragged down inside the box in the first half while the game was deadlocked and for some reason the referee or VAR didn’t award a penalty. If that had been awarded it would have been interesting to see how the rest of the game played out but equally, we can’t have too many complaints apart from that moment.

We have a bit of down time in our off season, and I have been enjoying the rest so far. I got to go to Munich last weekend with a couple of friends to watch the NFL game between the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers. Being a Giants fan, I was very excited for the game and even though the result was a disappointing one the whole experience and weekend was fantastic. 

American sports do sports events better than anybody else and the Munich event was no different. The whole city was buzzing for the weekend and three hours before kick-off at the unbelievable Allianz Stadium the majority of the supporters were either inside the ground out just outside in the fan zones and it added to the spectacle.

PFAI NOMINATION

This weekend I will travel to Dublin to for the PFAI awards where I have been nominated for the Men’s Senior Player of the Year and been name in the team of the season too. I am really looking forward to the awards and very proud to have been nominated and chosen in the team. It is a huge honour when it is your fellow professionals who are voting for the award, and you are nominated and at my age realistically I don’t have too many of these left so it would be great to win it. 

I am nominated along with two excellent players Dylan Watts from Shamrock Rovers and Michael Duffy from Derry City so it will be tough to win it. Either way I am more than happy with the season that I have had and just looking forward to the awards night.