Soccer

Republic of Ireland can only improve in Moldova

Republic of Ireland's Seamus Coleman scores his side's goal that sunk Georgia on Thursday night
Republic of Ireland's Seamus Coleman scores his side's goal that sunk Georgia on Thursday night Republic of Ireland's Seamus Coleman scores his side's goal that sunk Georgia on Thursday night

2018 World Cup Qualifying Group D: Moldova v Republic of Ireland (tomorrow, Stadionul Zimbru, Chisinau, 7.45pm Irish time)

GETTING away from the burning crucible of Dublin’s Aviva Stadium mightn’t be a bad thing for the Republic of Ireland after Thursday night’s anaemic display against Georgia.

And Moldova is certainly far enough away tomorrow night as Martin O’Neill’s side look to round off their 2018 World Cup qualifying double-header in October with a maximum of six points ahead of next month’s more challenging trip to Austria.

There have been some poor displays in qualification since O’Neill took charge, but Thursday night’s first half was undoubtedly the worst under the Kilrea man.

Everything that O’Neill preached in the build-up to the Georgia game wasn’t heeded as the Republic stumbled, quite literally, to an undeserved 1-0 win, courtesy of Seamus Coleman finding the net.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the Irish were played off the park – not just in the first half but for large swathes of the second half after Coleman’s 56th minute goal.

On Wednesday, O’Neill talked about the importance of ball retention.

He said: “I think the players should feel confident in themselves, have the confidence to deal with the ball. To deal with the ball when you have space is not what I’m talking about; it’s dealing with the ball in tighter situations, which the players are capable of doing.”

O’Neill’s problem, however, ahead of tomorrow night’s assignment in far-flung Chisinau is squad depth.

He could be without two of his three first-choice midfielders. Jeff Hendrick picked up a second yellow card in two games and is ruled out of tomorrow night’s tie, while Robbie Brady must be a major doubt after suffering a bad head injury that saw him stretchered off during the second half of Thursday night’s Georgian game.

Shane Long suffered an ankle injury but it is hoped the Tipperary native will be fit to play.

Anthony Pilkington, Harry Arter, Aiden McGeady, Keiren Westwood, Marc Wilson, Stephen Quinn and Daryl Murphy were already ruled out prior to the Georgia game.

O’Neill, though, still has David Meyler, Wes Hoolahan and Eunan O’Kane as options to replenish his midfield, with Glenn Whelan almost certain to be recalled to the starting line-up after being benched on Thursday.

“I think we need everyone to step up to the mark,” said O’Neill, when asked about his options. “The performance in the first half against Georgia shows we need everybody at it.

“We can’t afford to carry anybody. We didn’t play well enough. We turned it around in the second half, started getting second balls and applying more pressure. That was really it.

“We’ve relied on Seamus Coleman scoring a goal. It was a tough evening for us. But we’ve won, that becomes very important.

“Whatever the team lacks in certain things, we’ve shown over the last two years they keep going. We drive on. They don’t give in, in that sense, and don’t give up on what might be a difficult cause. We knew the importance of winning the game and we won it. I’m delighted with that.”

Since the new Aviva Stadium was built the Republic have yet to really fire on home soil, and they seem to produce better performances away from home.

O’Neill will be hoping that’s the case tomorrow night against a Moldovan side that have lost their opening two games to Wales and Serbia in Group D, conceding seven goals and failing to hit the net themselves.

While the Irish were labouring to a barely deserved victory in Dublin on Thursday night, in Chisinau the Serbs managed to break Moldova’s resistance after just 19 minutes and added two further goals in the 37th and 59th minutes.

Moldova finished bottom of their Euro 2016 qualification group and have mustered just one victory in 22 games. They may have home advantage but they don’t possess the same technical threat as Georgia.

O’Neill added: “We can’t allow 15 or 20 minutes to disappear in a game and be second best because, you know, we didn’t recover well enough [against Georgia].

"You can go a period where the other team have the ball, that’s fine but we couldn’t get close enough to them and that seven minutes becomes 10, 12, 14. Next thing you know I’m delighted to get in at half-time because they couldn’t get in front."

Even with Ireland's options seriously curtailed they should still come away from Moldova with another three points stowed away.