Friday, 6th October 2017 FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Republic of Ireland 2-0 Moldova Darren Randolph made his 20th start in his 25th appearance for Ireland Shane Duffy continued his record of starting every game for Ireland in his 14th international appearance Callum O’Dowda made his first competitive start in his seventh appearance for […] More
The Republic of Ireland have been placed in League B of the UEFA Nations League alongside Northern Ireland and Wales. The four Leagues (A-D) are based on FIFA rankings, and 55 European teams will be split into four groups of three within each League, with the draw being made in January 2018. The inaugural UEFA Nations League […] More
Ireland are guaranteed a World Cup play-off. What a relief. James McClean’s superb second half goal handed the boys in a green a famous 1-0 win in Wales, crushing the hosts’ hopes of qualifying for Russia in the process. After nine Group D fixtures and 13 months, it all came down to Cardiff. Both teams […] More
Well, it’s a positive that we’re not out of it yet and we’re not travelling to Wales for a dead rubber. And although meeting the top seeds away in Cardiff is obviously a totally different proposition to playing the bottom seeds at home, if we show the application and verve that we showed in the […] More
Gareth Bale will miss Wales’ World Cup qualifiers against both Georgia and the Republic of Ireland through injury. The 28 year old suffered a calf strain in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last Tuesday, and missed the Spanish champions’ clash with Espanyol as a result. Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane initially […] More
Martin O’Neill says the crowd will have a big role to play when the Republic of Ireland welcome Moldova to the Aviva Stadium on October 6th. The boys in green won the reverse fixture 3-1 in Moldova, but will be without several key players on Friday week. Robbie Brady and James McClean will miss out […] More
The Republic of Ireland have dropped to 34th in the FIFA rankings, dropping five places following the results against Georgia and Serbia. The boys in green were ranked 23rd after that impressive win in Vienna, but have fallen 11 places in the time since that victory over Austria. These rankings could have an effect on […] More
It’s disappointing that what was one of our better performances of this group ended up being our worst result. But having rode our luck in Belgrade a year ago to escape with a point, the Serbs extracted revenge in clinical fashion and the optimism of the first hour evaporated in a string of poor final […] More
Sean Maguire scored his first Preston goal on Saturday, and the Irish striker says he dreams of pulling on an Irish jersey. The 23 year old was included in Martin O’Neill’s 39 man provisional squad for the last week’s clashes against Georgia and Serbia, but did not make the final squad. Maguire was prolific at Cork […] More
In all the years I’ve spent following the Irish team, we seem to have drawn Georgia on an inordinate number of occasions. An initial meeting in 2003 during Brian Kerr’s first campaign ended in an ill-tempered 2-1 victory best remembered for the various knives, bottles and ball-bearings thrown at Kevin Kilbane, Shay Given, Gary Breen […] More
Ireland produced a disappointing, below par performance in their 1-1 draw in Georgia tonight in Tbilisi, despite taking an early lead through Shane Duffy. Georgia dominated possession for long periods, and in a familiar pattern, the boys in green struggled to retain possession when under pressure. Valeri Kazaishvili tucked away a deserved equalizer for the hosts […] More
Martin O’Neill has provided an injury update ahead of Ireland’s clashes with Georgia and Serbia. The Republic of Ireland manager offered updates on the condition of Jon Walters, Jeff Hendrick and Eunan O’Kane. Walters missed Burnley’s visit to Spurs on Sunday, and sat out training yesterday, but O’Neill says the striker has a chance of […] More
