Rep of Ireland 4 USA 1
Martin O’Neill had said on Monday that he and his players would love to have been facing the Scots again last night so that amends could be made for Friday and if that was just wishful thinking then he at least got the win he wanted to finish the year here. There was no hint of Celtic Park’s intensity, though, and if the Poles in March are even half as accommodating as the Americans were last night then Ireland’s qualification campaign will indeed be back on track before the summer.
The greatly reduced stakes here were reflected by the scale of the changes made with the northerner fielding a completely different team to the one beaten in Glasgow. Shay Given returned and started the night with 50 caps more than everyone of his team mates combined.
The veteran goalkeeper made a couple of really fine second half saves but not everyone else exactly rose to the occasion even if there were glimpses here and there of what some of the squad’s more marginal players might have to offer. There was, in particular, a standout moment or two from debutant David McGoldrick, who laid on two goals, before some of the regulars arrived to make things safe.
Robbie Brady, though, sort of stole the show with his second half brace. The 22 year-old had been on from the start, playing at left back, and his performance re-enforced the impression overall that he is a better player on the front rather than the back foot with his night sure to be remembered from some for his crossing and set pieces rather than his defending. After a slightly scrambled first goal, though, his second was a beauty; a curling free to the top left corner from 25 metres that rounded the night off rather nicely for those fans who had stayed until the end.
Cyrus Christie was largely quiet and may need more time to settle into the new surroundings but even he had the odd moment in a second half during which Ireland's momentum built and James McClean's deflected goal eight minutes time need not have been Ireland's only other one of the closing period with Shane Long, for starters, thumping the post after a tremendous run, his best moment of a really strong 15 minute run out.
For the second string the night also started, as so many of these things tend to, brightly with the hosts rewarded for their early enterprise with a fine goal. The Americans may look back in wonder at quite how they defended at so poorly with acres of space left for the home side to play into but it was still hard not to admire the way Anthony Pilkington and debutant McGoldrick linked up to exploit the opportunity.
The Cardiff City winger played the ball into McGoldrick’s path before taking off to his right. The pass through the middle that followed left him a lot of ground to cover but he was far quicker to see the opening than any defender was to spot the danger and having stolen in ahead of Matt Besler he rather coolly chipped Bill Hamid as he came to claim his first international goal.
There were glimpses, in the spell that followed, of the working relationship that McGoldrick has struck up with Daryl Murphy at Ipswich and the latter probably should have doubled Ireland’s lead when some chaotic defending failed to halt the pair’s advance down the left into the box and Hamid had to be quick off his line to block from the striker.
At that stage, though, it seemed, almost inevitable that the Irish would score again. Their opponents barely seemed to make it anywhere near the Irish area for a quarter of an hour after the first of quite a few intricately planned but often poorly executed short corners, four minutes in.
The locals took control, pushing the ball around midfield where Stephen Quinn and David Meyler looked comfortable and patiently waiting for the right moment to attack while Jürgen Klinsmann’s men stood off and gave ground, rarely showing either urgency or much by way of defensive organisation until backed up into the danger area.
Midway through the half, Brady’s ability to defend at left half was seriously tested for the first time and it didn’t go well with Alejandro Bedoya holding him off easily to send in a cross that Alex Pearce did well to head behind as Shay Given floundered and Jozy Altidore lurked.
Towards the end of the half, though, there was a collective meltdown that allowed the Americans to get on terms and it is difficult to imagine that the sight of so many Irish players having been left all at sea by the movement around them will not stay with O’Neill into March when Poland come calling.
Meyler made the initial mistake under pressure from Mix Diskerud, the Rosenborg midfielder who played a significant role in Sligo Rovers’ European exit the last time he visited these shores back in the summer, but it seemed like half the visiting team was involved without being seriously challenged before Chris Wondolowski gently headed into the path of Diskered who finished with a flourish from five yards.
They had a couple of chances after that but there was a touch of the Tommy Coopers about their misfiring box of training ground magic tricks and Ireland began to reassert themselves and more experienced campaigners were sent on from the bench over the course of the second half.
Having missed his side’s best chance to go into the lead when he hit the crossbar not long after the equaliser, Altidore’s slightly over zealous challenge on Christie late on was a welcome reminder that not everyone on the America side had completely given up as the game moved into its final stages. Around him, though, most of Klinsmann’s players were looking well beaten and as the Irish showed a hunger perhaps born of a lingering frustration over the closing minutes, the score was finally made to reflect the scale of Ireland’s superiority.
Republic of Ireland: Given (Aston Villa); Christie (Derby County), Pearce (Reading), Clark (Aston Villa), Brady (Hull City); Pilkington (Cardiff City), Quinn (Hull City), Meyler (Hull City), Stokes (Celtic); McGoldrick (Ipswich Town), Murphy (Ipswich Town). Subs: Mcgeady (Everton) for Stokes (59 mins), McClean (Wigan) for Pilkington (65 mins), Long (Southampton) for McGoldrick and Hendrick (Derby County) for Murphy (both 77 mins), Elliot (Newcastle United) for Given (85 mins),
USA: Hamid; Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Chandler; Bedoya, Beckerman, Morale, Diskerud; Altidore, Wondolowski . Subs: Wood for Wondolowski (half-time), Garza for Morales (65 mins), Morris for Chandler and Rubin for Miskerud (both 77 mins), Ream for Beckerman (87 mins)
Referee: P Raczkowski (Poland)
