Rep of Ireland 3 Wales 0:The Republic of Ireland opened the inaugural Carling Nations Cup with a 3-0 win over a severely depleted Welsh side at the Aviva Stadium this evening. Three second half goals from Darron Gibson, Damien Duff and Keith Fahey put the gloss on a one-side affair.
Most encouraging for Giovanni Trapattoni, however, were the impressive debuts of Aston Villa’s Ciarán Clark and Everton Seámus Coleman. Stoke City midfielder Marc Wilson also made his first appearance in a green shirt, but with nine minutes remaining the contest was effectively over with Ireland sitting on a two-goal cushion.
Clark was tested regularly under the high ball by Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy and for the most part answered the questions asked of him, despite the attentions of Simon Church. Before being replaced by Fahey on the hour, Coleman was assured in possession and confident enough to take control of situations in midfield, while showing a willingness to track back and double up with John O’Shea on Hal Robson-Kanu.
As a result of their defensive efforts Wales’s 4-3-3 formation offered little going forward on the flanks, while sprightly frontman Robert Earnshaw was competently tethered by Richard Dunne and Seán St Ledger. On the one occasion he wasn’t, Clark made sure he went no further. The Nottingham Forest striker struck his free well over Shay Given’s crossbar.
Ireland showed plenty of attacking intent, with Jon Walters and Kevin Doyle taking turns to combine well with Damien Duff on the left. But it wasn’t until the 35th minute that Hennessy was tested, comfortably gathering Doyle’s low 20-yard shot after Neal Eardley, not for the first time, ceded possession to Duff.
Until then, the homeside’s threats on goal were confined to two Glenn Whelan efforts from distance and cross from Duff that had Hennessy scrambling. Ricketts also did well to head clear from Darron Gibson’s testing free, with O’Shea lurking at the back post.
Ireland’s best chance came six minutes before the break after Coleman, showing more ambition out wide late in the half, was tackled late by Ricketts when crossing from the byline. Nobody picked up the Killybegs man on the edge of the box when Gibson placed the ball and fed it to him. His clipped cross found Clark but the Aston Villa defender’s header looped just wide.
On the stroke of halftime, Church finally got away from Clark and cut inside to shoot, but Given comfortably dealt with the low shot and the half ended with the two debutants the stand out performers in an otherwise lethargic affair.
Trapattoni’s sole change at the break was the introduction of Shane Long for Doyle, but Walters threatened first when he dummied two defenders, but his shot was gathered with minimal fuss. Long then shot just over from 15 yards when aiming for the top corner after a swift counter from Ireland, initiated by Whelan before Duff made most of the space to set up his team-mate.
As Ireland pressed, Duff was fortunate to find himself in front of goal and Hennessy was lucky the shot was drilled at him. Walters, still full of running, then turned on a neat pass from Whelan but found Hennessy well placed again from a tight angle.
The Wolves keeper could do nothing about the Gibson’s strike, however, which came after he burst on to a perfectly weighted lay-off from Whelan and struck a 25-yard effort that nestled in the net.
Church’s deflected shot threatened to restore parity moments later but Given tipped it around the post and Welsh pleas for a corner were ignored. It got worse for Wales in the 67th minute when Walters dispossessed Gunther on the byline and squared it for Long. The striker only succeeded in dummying his stabbed effort on goal but, with a late run, Duff calmly obliged from eight yards.
A rash of substitutions only served to disrupt proceedings but Ireland still threatened in the broken play and Fahey, having initially been dropped from the squad, added the gloss with a curling free-kick into the bottom right-hand corner of Hennessy’s net.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Manchester City); O'Shea (Manchester United) (O’Dea 85) Coleman (Everton) (Fahey, 58), Whelan (Stoke City) (Green 76), Gibson (Manchester United) (Wilson 81), Duff (Fulham) (Keogh 71); Walters (Stoke City), Doyle (Wolves) (Long 46)
WALES: Hennessy (Wolves); Eardley (Blackpool) (Gunther 46), J Collins (Aston Villa), Collins (Stoke City), Ricketts (Bolton Wanderers); Vaughan (Blackpool) (Ledley 61), Crofts (Norwich City), King (Leicester City); Church (Reading), Earnshaw (Nottingham Forest) (Easter 80), Robson-Kanu (Reading) (F Eastwood 67).