Robbie Brady’s tenth goal for the Republic of Ireland deserves a life of its own.
The late winner in Helsinki demanded technical excellence from Festy Ebosele, who carved a path between two Finnish defenders before sending a left foot cross to the back post, where Brady had to kill the ball and catch his half volley in the same fluid motion.
A Nations League victory over Finland will not be remembered like the Brady header that beat Italy at Euro 2016, when he ghosted onto Wes Houlihan’s pass to send Ireland into the Last 16.
But it will not be forgotten either as this marks Ireland’s first competitive victory of substance since beating Scotland in June 2022.
“It feels amazing,” said Brady. “It’s frustrating, we know the results haven’t been great for the last few years.
“And it can weigh on you a bit, especially for the lads, it’s a young group. But like I said, we have millions and millions of pounds of talent in that dressing room, it’s not like we’re all a crop of bad players.
“It means the world to me.”
The 32-year-old’s career never caught fire like so many presumed it would after Ireland’s last trip to a major tournament. Brady has been cursed by injury, winning only 66 caps since 2012 and it looked like his international career was over until caretaker manager John O’Shea recalled him earlier this year.
“You never know do you, when you’re out of favour with someone,” Brady added. “But all you can do is get your head down and work hard and that’s what I’ve been doing.
“I’ve had a fair share of injuries over the years, that hasn’t helped. But I will always continue to work hard – if it gives me half a chance of getting back and playing in a green jersey I’ll give everything I have.”
Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson emphasised the importance of the only current Irish player to feature at a major tournament: “You always need experience and every team needs characters and leaders. But you can have leaders in different ways. Some lead by example on the pitch, they lead in the dressing room or in meetings. There are loads of leaders, Robbie has so many attributes and he is still a really good player.
“He is a match winner today. He needed to step into the vacancy of leaders, and he did that, especially on the pitch. He had a really good game, same as Liam Scales, winning duels, scoring a goal.”
The Scales header to make it 1-1, from a Brady delivery, was particularly satisfying for the coaching staff as it was a pre-planned move.
Hallgrímsson also made a specific reference to how fearless Ebosele was, risking it all in the 88th minute, by beating two Finland defenders.
“Festy was strangely confident, arrogantly confident in front of one or two players and just took them on.”
Ebosele’s performance off the bench, replacing Chiedozie Ogbene, who is a doubt to face Greece on Sunday, allows the new manager to put some credit in the bank; Hallgrímsson selected the 22-year-old Watford wing-back ahead of Matt Doherty who was dropped after defeat to Greece in Dublin last month.
It is Greece, however, that captured the headlines across Europe last night, after beating England 2-1 at Wembley with a 94th-minute goal from Vangelis Pavlidis.
The late drama, in London and Helsinki, overshadowed an error by Nathan Collins that led to Finland’s opening goal from Joel Pohjanpalo.
“Nathan apologised after the game but was really happy with teammates and how they reacted to his mistake.
“He took the blame for this and life goes on. That is how professional players do it. They will not go through life or football without making mistakes. It’s part of who were are.
“We cannot be angry. It was not a tactical mistake, just a bad pass. Shit happens.”
