As sure as apples fall from trees, it seems, Ireland will always make life difficult for themselves against lesser teams when the stakes are high. In Tbilisi on Sunday evening a Georgia side that looked to pose little threat through most of the game was almost let away with a point. Kazakhstan, Georgia before and even San Marino, have run the Irish close over the past few years, only to watch their visitors pull off a great escape
Martin O'Neill insists his players can and will do better but his most experienced defender reckons we shouldn't entirely overlook the significance of what was actually achieved: Ireland dominated the game and won it. That, he contends, does not make Ireland the finished product but suggests that there is, at least, a sense that they are moving in the right direction.
John O'Shea, as it happens, carries a share of the blame – with Stephen Ward and perhaps David Forde – for Georgia's equalising goal, but the 33-year-old still feels the victory provides momentum that will be like a stiff breeze behind Ireland as the team sails towards top seeds Germany.
“Obviously it was disappointing from our point of view to let them score the way they did,” he admits, “in that there wasn’t much danger and we gave the lad a bit too much space before he stuck it in.
“But it’s a huge three points for us. People might have been thinking 1-1 might not have been too bad but believe me we wanted to win this game beforehand. Ultimately we knew we could win the game and we did win it.
“What that gives us is momentum and that’s key,” he continues. “Martin and the staff have had to wait eight or nine months for their first competitive game and to get a win is huge. Now we can see the way the other results go and build from there.”
The more interesting of the other two games from the other night was Germany’s narrow win over Scotland, which may have provided the Irish with the basis for a little hope as they prepare for the trip away in the middle of next month.
O’Shea admits the manager is on to something when he says the players will have to step up in key areas, but the point he makes is that Sunday’s win showed that Ireland can look forward, well beyond Germany, with some renewed hope.
"We probably didn't get enough ball up to Robbie and get as much support to him but Jonny Walters worked extremely well and was a fantastic out ball for us that was heavily involved in the first goal . . . so, a lot of positives."
Walters, meanwhile, says he was happy to get the call less than hour before the game when O’Neill told the players the team. “I’m always delighted to step up,” he says. “Sometimes it [the team] has a difficult job and you don’t get many thanks for it but we dug in for each other and did the job, a good job in the end, no question.
“I worked well with Seamus. It’s a great lift winning, something to build on, and we’ll go into the next games with a lot of confidence now.”
Asked about his club future, meanwhile, after drifting a little towards the margins at the Britannia stadium, he said simply: “I’ll just get back to Stoke now and focus on the weekend.”
