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Let’s Go Out There And Slay ‘Em

History beckons for the Irish players at Euro 2012. Better still, we seem to be going there in pretty good shape. Let the games commence!

Niall Stokes, 31 May 2012

Euro 2012 is finally upon us. And boy, is it a mouth-watering prospect! In fact with the sun shining and Ireland throwing the right shapes against Bosnia Herzegovina in the Aviva Stadium last weekend, it felt like the carnival had already started...

The final send-off could hardly have been better. It may have been a friendly, but the performance was one of the best from an Irish team since the night of the play-off larceny, perpetrated by France in Paris, that dumped us out of the World Cup two years ago.

For a start, Ireland went about their business with huge determination. One of the most glaring faults of recent years was a tendency to drop off rather than pressing the opposition. Against Bosnia, there was more of that old Jack Charlton-style fire than we have seen in a long time. We were getting tight on the opposition; hounding them; winning balls back by tracking effectively; and generally making life difficult for what was a good technical team.

Of equal importance, we also played more football than has generally been the pattern in the Trapattoni era. In the second half in particular, the goalkeeper Keiren Westwood – standing in for the injured Shay Given – frequently gave the ball to the full-backs or to the central midfielders dropping back, rather than hoofing it in the general direction of the strikers. The effect was remarkable: the Irish players passed it across the back and worked at keeping possession. They were patient and probing. And there was no little skill on display, especially on the wings, with Damien Duff, James McClean and Aiden McGeady all turning in encouraging performances.

McClean was effectively on trial, starting an international for the first time, and he came through the test well, running at the opposition successfully, going down the line or cutting inside with equal relish and getting shots off. He looked well capable of providing an attacking threat in Poland – and, of course, the Ukraine if we progress beyond the group stage. But the real revelation on the day was probably McGeady, who came on as a sub, replacing Damien Duff at half-time. He was like a man reborn, showing all of his abundant skills, as he tortured the Bosnian defence, both on the right and the left.



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