Republic of Ireland 1 - New Zealand 1
[Idah 28; Garbett 59]
Unable to add New Zealand to victories over Latvia and Gibraltar, so ends a miserable year for Irish men’s football with a draw to sit alongside six losses.
It could have been seven. Ireland were lucky.
What began at the empty Vasil Levski stadium in Sofia three years ago concluded before a sprinkling of supporters in Dublin as the Republic of Ireland proved, once again, on Stephen Kenny’s watch they have forgotten how to win.
The 26,517 attendance was nowhere near the 41,000 Kenny said were coming but vision and ambition are important.
As usual, the players began with furious intent. Adam Idah calmly finished under Max Crocombe after Mark Sykes harried Nando Pijnaker into error.
The goal took 28 minutes. 28 minutes of Mikey Johnston touches and turns. Then Idah scored and the All Whites were almost encouraged to respond.
In a much-changed line-up, where Jayson Molumby and Jason Knight were tasked with controlling midfield, the Kiwis followed the established playbook against Ireland by shooting from deep.
Chris Wood, their Premier League centre forward, deflected Marko Stamenic’s belter off target before a curling Sarpreet Singh effort was saved by Caoimhín Kelleher. The first-half ended with Libby Cacace storming into the Irish box but Singh, from the Wout Weghorst angle, found side netting.
New Zealand, ranked 103rd by Fifa, had the better of Ireland.
“Ambition can take you to the darkest of places,” wrote Kenny in his programme notes. It also took his team from Baku to Yerevan, from Wembley to the Johann Cruyff Arena, in a head-spinning three years cursed with rotten luck and odd decisions.
The 52-year-old tried and failed to create a style that could hold pace with the middleweight football nations. Or New Zealand, Armenia, Luxembourg.
“We need more funding,” said James McClean this week, seemingly unaware that the Government has temporarily turned off the money tap. That was the Wrexham winger’s parting message as walked off the international stage with 103 caps spanning 11 years.
Kenny reverted to type, playing a 4-3-3 formation with Johnston hot-stepping off the left, that’s how he played out the final gig as three players – Shane Duffy, Matt Doherty and Idah - started the first match in Bulgaria and the last.
He also reverted to type-on-paper, writing eloquently about the “radical” shift he attempted while losing 18 and drawing 11 of his 40 games in charge.
“When I was a teenager,” he began, “my Dad decided to leave his regular job and security with it to become self-employed. At the back of our small house in Tallaght, he built a large shed where he cooked hams and cooked bacon to supply shops around Dublin.
“That soon became too small, so he brought a small butchers in Ballyfermot and worked from there, before space was at a premium and he built an extension on that building, until, ultimately, with new increased EU regulations, deemed his building to be too small to work in. My view had always been that a large industrial unit was the way to go but money was tight and you had to survive week to week whilst trying to grow.
“Vision and ambition are important. It’s imperative to have clarity of thought, to see what can be achieved on many different levels. Ambition can take you to the darkest of places, it’s difficult to undertake a radical rebuild without set backs. You have to show conviction amidst the criticism and adapt if required, but nurture talent, develop and believe in it.
“There is now a clear pathway for players, a playing philosophy and principles of play from under-15s through the international teams to the senior team.”
Maybe so, but New Zealand are supposed to be easy fodder for Ireland on a football pitch. Matt Garbett should have equalized in the established death zone for Kenny’s teams but four minutes into the second half the Dutch-based midfielder missed the target.
Garbett would come again. That’s when the booing began, the predicted collapse, it’s now part of Ireland’s DNA. Sure enough, Garbett profited from a Shane Duffy’s half clearance, half tackle on Tim Payne by zinging the ball past Mark Travers.
Next, Singh forced Travers into action and forced Kenny to get Evan Ferguson onto the pitch before the trickle of early exits turned to a flood. McClean also made way for Ryan Manning with the crowd and his teammates clapping him off.
With Irish players looking like they met an hour before kick-off, the visitors deserved to score again. In an utterly calamitous moment, Duffy’s own goal was ruled offside against Michael Boxall after Garbett stung Travers’ fingers with another snapshot.
Results trump vision, like performance outlasts ambition.
Ireland: Kelleher (Liverpool); Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Duffy (Norwich City), Omobamidele (Nottingham Forest), McClean (Wrexham); Sykes (Bristol City), Molumby (West Bromwich Albion), Knight (Bristol City), McGrath (Aberdeen), Johnston (Glasgow Celtic); Idah (Norwich City).
Substitutions: Mark Travers (Bournemouth) for Kelleher (46), Cullen (Burnley) for Knight (54), Ferguson (Brighton and Hove Albion) for Idah, Manning (Southampton for McClean (both 67), Browne (Preston North End) for Doherty (73), Moran (Blackburn Rovers) for Johnston (78).
New Zealand: Crocombe (Burton Albion); Payne (Wellington Phoenix), Pijnaker (Sligo Rovers), Bixall (Minnesota United), Cacace (Empoli); Garbett (NAC Breda), Bell (Viking FK), Stamenic (Red Star Belgrade); McCowatt (Silkeborg), Wood (Nottingham Forest), Singh (Hansa Rostock).
Substitutions: Mata (Shrewsbury Town) for Wood (60), Just (AC Horsens) for McCowatt (77), Lewis (Macarthur) for Garbett (82), Bidon (Reading) for Payne (89).
Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland).
