Soccer

We won't take eye off the ball against Gibraltar: Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman

Republic of Ireland's Seamus Coleman feels back to his best again
Republic of Ireland's Seamus Coleman feels back to his best again Republic of Ireland's Seamus Coleman feels back to his best again

Euro 2020 Qualifying Group D: Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar (tonight, Dublin, 7.45pm)

COMPLACENCY won’t be an issue for the Republic of Ireland players ahead of their Euro 2020 Qualifier against group minnows Gibraltar in Dublin tonight, insists captain Seamus Coleman

The Irish hope to round off the first half of their qualification campaign with a third win out of four games following last Friday’s gutsy 1-1 draw with group favourites Denmark in Copenhagen.

Gibraltar made the Republic sweat for the three points on ‘the Rock’ back in March, but the part-timers are likely to pose less resistance tonight having been softened up by last Friday’s 3-0 defeat to Georgia and the arduous journey to and from Tbilisi.

Gibraltar kept their hosts out until the 30th minute before second half goals in the 59th and 76th minutes made sure of the points for Georgia.

Ten of the Gibraltar side that fell to Jeff Hendrick’s goal in March started against the Georgians three days ago and there is expected to be little change in personnel for their trip to the Irish capital.

“As captain but the senior players too and the new management, honest to God, there will be no complacency,” said Coleman, who was an interested spectator at Donegal's Ulster Championship clash with Tyrone on Saturday evening.

“I can’t read the future, I don’t know how we’ll start against Gibraltar, but there is nobody taking anything for granted. That’s not what this group is about.

“You can’t take anything for granted nowadays – it’s a crazy, crazy game. They made it sticky for us out there and we’ll need to be prepared as best we can.”

While boss Mick McCarthy was unhappy with aspects of Ireland’s display in Copenhagen, they showed courage in grabbing a late equaliser through Shane Duffy’s 85th minute header and kept the ball better than they did on their last visit to the Danish capital in November 2017 under former boss Martin O’Neill.

“The nature of the late goal gives you an extra boost,” Coleman acknowledged.

“We were disappointed to go one-nil down, I think we did ride our luck at times as they’d a few chances and Darren [Randolph] made a great save [from Yussuf Poulsen].

“When we were 1-0 down we decided to play a bit and I think going forward that should give us confidence that we can play. On the training ground we are great but we just need to bring that forward. The manager has given us all the confidence in the world and it’s about us doing it on the pitch.

“We were still going for the game at the end which was great, so that should give us a nice positive feeling.”

Coleman revealed that some of the jibes from the Denmark players did in fact anger him in the lead-up to their fifth meeting in 19 months. Thomas Delaney and Christian Eriksen had derided the Republic for their defensive set-up.

“You do have to bite your tongue a little bit in the pre-match press conference because you have to be professional,” said the Donegal man.

“Look, they said what they said and that’s fine. Sometimes things can get lost in translation. I don’t know exactly what they said but you don’t like anyone talking badly of your team. You’ve got lads to protect. But, yeah, there was definitely that bit of motivation going into the game and it definitely didn’t go unnoticed what was said.”

The Irish captain also heaped praise on Duffy – not only for his brave equaliser and his stout defending, but also for battling back from a life-threatening training ground injury in 2010 that left him with a lacerated liver.

“He’s unbelievable in both boxes,” Coleman said.

“It was a great ball put into the box [by substitute Alan Judge] and he’s a mountain of a man, unbelievable. I know I’m going back a long time but when you think of the injury that he had, that could have had a massive impact on the rest of his career. He’s no fear whatsoever. He’s brilliant.”

Coleman says he’s also “feeling good again” after a year was shaved off his own career following a horrific leg break while playing for his country in a World Cup qualifier against Wales in March 2017.

“I’m getting back to where I want to be at: bombing up and down the pitch is my bread and butter and I’d licence to do that against Denmark and I enjoyed it.

“We’ve got competition all over the pitch now. Greg Cunningham was brilliant in training last week and we’ve got one of the best right wing-backs [Matt Doherty] in the Premier League this season who is on my toes, so we’ve got competition all over the pitch.”

With summer holidays within touching distance, the Republic of Ireland should take care of business against Gibraltar this evening before sizing up the September assignment at home to Switzerland.