who is that?
The New Official Republic of Ireland Football Thread
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who is that?
I’ve said it for a few weeks now, Maignon should be our keeper target; he’s got it all and is on the cusp of being arguably the best in the world
Sick of the heroic losses down through the years. Shouldn't have lost that today. Stupid goal to give away. Only threat is set pieces. It's like watching the same match for the last 10 years.
Is it mad that'd I'd absolutely love Ferguson at United? Young Irish striker, supports United....would be great watching. It would be so preferable to having to watch that gormless, charmless geebag Kane up front for us.
Eh? That can’t be a serious comment?
I don't mean the performance, they were very good defensively. It's that feeling of just falling short at the end. Horribly frustrating.
Even the moral victories have been absent for the last number of years, so at least they're back. That's progress.
You're having a laugh. Spoken as a man who has sat through years of shite at the Aviva, that is not what we've just watched. We were fantastic tonight against probably the best international team in the world. For fecks sake. Near the end there, France brought on starters for Barcelona and Madrid, we brought on a Preston, a Wigan and a Victoria Guimares player. And only McClean is a definite starter. Find a single one of the 50 odd thousand crowd there tonight that shares your opinion.
He was playing against some of the best MFs in the world and kept them quiet in an attacking sense.
He has great positional sense, a super engine and can playva bit but obviously less so against this level of opposition.
Ah. Ok. Yeah, I get that. But there was a lot to be positive about tonight. Which is different to most of what’s been a fairly bleak period.
Not at all. Desperate for us to get an Irish player again. It’s been far too long
Without doubt he would be a massive upgrade over Weghorst
I actually can’t wait to see how we fare against the Dutch.
I thought he could have been very slightly braver and put another forward on instead of Knight, Idah even would have worked all day and given Ferguson someone to work off. Ferguson was too isolated to make an impact.
This is the key. Kenny's whole tenure rests now on what we do against the Dutch and the Greeks. I desperately want him to succeed.
Ogbene started?
Falling (just) short against the French is a huge improvement!
Goal difference might be important in the end.
We'll have to beat the dutch at home if we've any hope of coming 2nd.
Our home crowd are excellent at least.
We'll have to beat the dutch at home if we've any hope of coming 2nd.
Our home crowd are excellent at least.
Ogbene was great as a right midfield/right wing back/right winger and deserved man of the match. But it was essentially 5-4-1, nothing on the left in particular in the first half. Was relying on Doherty to beat several players to do anything, which he was never going to do. Another player up and an extra threat might have helped - we created more when that happened in the second half.
The Dutch had 50(!) odd shots against Gibraltar. Let's hope they aren't peppering Ireland to the same extent...
Hadn’t looked at the groups until tonight but seen now the Ireland have a brutal one in comparison to some of the others.
That's the most tangible sign of footballing progress in quite a while. Some really good stuff and they took chances on the ball, which we've always been really reticent to do. Finding the mix between the slower, possession based stuff and actually getting the ball moving quickly and even getting the centre backs turned at times. It's probably that sort of hybrid game that gives us the best chance of success.
In other news, RTE have somehow ended up with Stephen Kelly, Kevin Doyle and Shay Given working on the game. It's almost impressive to have that many piss poor pundits or commentators working on the game.
In other news, RTE have somehow ended up with Stephen Kelly, Kevin Doyle and Shay Given working on the game. It's almost impressive to have that many piss poor pundits or commentators working on the game.
Stephen Kelly is the Jermaine Jenas of Ireland, terrible and I don't know anyone who likes him, yet keeps being given big gigs.
The Second Captains were rolling their eyes about Kenny’s comments during the week when he implied he had no intention of changing our approach against such a strong team but I was most impressed by how we managed to stick to his principles while also doing our best to nullify France. It was actually tactically very impressive. Which hasn’t always been the case.
I like him. He once played a five a side match with my son’s soccer team. He’s one of the nicest blokes you could meet. His analysis is usually decent too. There’s a hell of a lot worse earning a hell of a lot more for the BBC.
Odds on favourite for the Late Late gig. Between him, Anna Geary and Katherine Thomas.
Yep. I think a lot of the progress has been in the way he's brought through players. The football itself and the results have been very mixed at times. Tonight should be the blueprint, albeit we wouldn't be the first side to reach a level against a top side that isn't sustainable.
Luckily, he hasn't done so much as a swimming lesson with my kids, so I'm happy to stick with him being absolutely fecking pony
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It's actually quite impressive what Kenny has done with this group of players. Best football Ireland have played in years, a total style change that going is surely going to reap benefits in years to come.
Us as irish fans need to start being more realistic. We are small country or own pro league is brutal. Not as many irish are going to the big teams in England any more because scouting systems are wider. We player prob best country in the world. We looked like the better team all game.young boys stood up and were counted. There's a good few good young boys coming through try and enjoy it and be patient
Gutted we didnt get the much deserved draw. Maignan pulled off a worldie of a save.
Superb application from the lads. Hopefully it wasn't because we were playing France - if we perform at that level on a consistent basis there will be few complaints.
I'd go back to how furious they looked at the final whistle. If the use that anger to keep the level up, they'll do well in this group yet.
Still need to find a couple more players most likely to really push on and become regularly that impressive.
The big concern, obviously, is that we reached a similar level against Portugal. And we all know what happened from there.
Having rather mixed emotions as whilst it's rather novel for a Rotherham United player to be getting rave reviews for their performance against France, it's certainly not filling me with confidence he'll play for us much longer.
A question that was raised on a podcast yesterday and I’m interested to hear what people think is would you keep Kenny if we didn’t qualify from this group? Give him another 2 or 4 years. Or would you try someone else?
I veer between the two, probably leaning towards him staying. He’s overhauled the side massively and we’ve now got a pretty young, vibrant squad that should progress even further. But he’s now stuck in that seeding where we’re unlikely to get winnable draws without winning games and we’re unlikely to win games without etc….
I veer between the two, probably leaning towards him staying. He’s overhauled the side massively and we’ve now got a pretty young, vibrant squad that should progress even further. But he’s now stuck in that seeding where we’re unlikely to get winnable draws without winning games and we’re unlikely to win games without etc….
It was more of a workmanlike performance than anything that will have big clubs knocking on your door. He’s such a wholehearted player. Leaves it all out there every match. Seems like an incredibly nice bloke too. Is he popular with the Rotherham fans?
I think that’s fair. I’m not seeing a massively high ceiling with him. He’s a good player, clever, good tactically, quick and strong and I expect he’ll prove a good player for us, but I don’t think, for example, that he’d necessarily stand out every week at the top end of the Championship, much less the PL.
Been a long time since I was in touch with fan sentiment but I would've thought so, given he scored this cracker to help us to our first cup win in about 25 years
Can we all agree that Seamus Coleman is one of the most under appreciated footballers of all time? 
A bit past it now but he will have a few games a season where he remembers he’s a quality player!
A bit past it now but he will have a few games a season where he remembers he’s a quality player!Can we all agree that Seamus Coleman is one of the most under appreciated footballers of all time?
He was absolutely fantastic last night. At one point Mbappe got a yard on him but he somehow caught up and got a tackle in. Which would have been remarkable in his prime, never mind the age he is now.