Ireland go old school against England in bid to reach new ground
Memory is a slippery and devious acquaintance.
Ask it to take you back 32 years and it’s liable to lead you astray long before the journey is done, but a cursory dig through this paper's archives confirmed that some of the images retained from a dull February day at the RDS in 1992 have survived the test of time.
Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland lost 1-0 to Wales that day. It was a humdrum friendly, the unusual venue the only real point of separation until the half-time break when a band of substitutes emerged to pass the time with a bout of keepy-uppy and an early version of the crossbar challenge.
Kevin Moran was among them, and he was sensational. The Dubliner was part of a gang that pinged balls off the bar from distance and nonchalantly juggled the size 5 around the circle.
The thought then - and one that has sprung to mind time and again since - is how Irish national teams so often play for real as if the ball is a grenade, or a cannonball to be fired.
Eileen Gleeson’s Irish side tripped the light fantastic in League B of the Nations League last year. It was great to see but thwacking Hungary, Northern Ireland and Albania is one thing, putting passes together against France, England and Sweden in these Euro 2025 qualifiers is another ask entirely.
Their first effort, against the French in Metz last week, showed just how difficult this is. Megan Connolly was composed in possession but Katie McCabe was guilty of a few strays and Denise O’Sullivan got stuck between a rock and a hard place given she is well able to hold onto the ball but shoulders the expectation of playing the killer ball.
Those are our best players. It’s a hard balancing act.
England’s Leah Williamson had a ready quip when asked how the visitors
Read on irishexaminer.com
