Luxembourg 0 Ireland 0
Ireland: O’Leary; O’Shea, O’Brien, Collins (capt), Brady (Manning 21); Knight (John Patrick 90), Smallbone (Taylor 57), Phillips (Ebosele 57); Parrott, Ferguson (Idah 76), McAteer (Doherty 76)
Luxembourg: Pereira; Dzogovic, Jans (capt) (V Thill 63), Korac, Carlson (Gerson 89), Bohnert (Pinto 62); Moreira (Dos Santos 89), Barreiro, Da. Sinani; Rodrigues (Veiga 82), Dardari (Curci 76)
The match report
[ No shortage of effort, but Ireland fail to find the net against LuxembourgOpens in new window ]
The ratings
[ Ireland 0 Luxembourg 0: How the Irish players ratedOpens in new window ]
The TV View
[ RTÉ lads do well not to nod off after dour Ireland game in LuxembourgOpens in new window ]
That’s all from me for tonight, good night!
Heimir Hallgrímsson on RTÉ: Let’s be honest, we aren’t happy with this performance. The game was boring in the first half, it was sloppy. I think this game does teach us a lesson, it is understandable they are thinking about their break, they probably are a bit careful as they don’t want to get injured ahead of next season. We have some chances, but even if we won the game we wouldn’t be happy with the performance. First clean sheet since I came in, happy with that at least.
Jason Knight on RTÉ: “A long season, you saw it in the lads, it wasn’t the most comprehensive performance. There’s things to improve, overall a decent camp and we’re looking forward to September. I’ve [been the pivot], I’ve done that at club level, tonight was a bit scrappy but something I’d like to continue doing. Time for some rest now, we tried to give it everything but we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
90 mins: So John Patrick does come on, for Knight for stoppage time. Thill shimmies around the Irish defence but smashes it way wide from outside the box.
In the end, Luxembourg have a decent chance but for a superb sliding interception by Doherty when the forward had a chance to slot it in after a dangerous counter attack.
Full-time: Luxembourg 0 Ireland 0
A stalemate in Luxembourg. A much more entertaining second half but it wouldn’t be hard. Taylor and Collins had the best chances for Ireland. It won’t live long in the memory.
88 mins: Oh wow, a brilliant effort by Taylor, absolutely smashed the ball against the crossbar. Some power on that one, deserved a goal.
85 mins: Ebosele has shown great pace since coming on and wins a corner after putting pressure after a ball in behind. Both captains get a warning from the referee, it’s been a niggly, bitty sort of game. Ebosele is down now.
A long throw from O’Brien is headed nicely across by O’Shea and Idah tries an improvised overhead kick, but goes wide.
82 mins: Some heavy aerial challenges, two swinging arms by Luxembourg players and Parrott and O’Brien both receiving treatment.
75 mins: A few Manning corners don’t go to plan, one straight into the keeper’s hands as Idah and Doherty prepare to come on. Idah for Ferguson, Doherty for McAteer.
71 mins: McAteer is played over the top nicely and shoots on the vollet but straight at the keeper. Luxembourg go up the pitch and Dardari makes space for the shot, but is blocked.
67 mins: Ireland goal disallowed for offside! Better from Ireland as Ferguson slipped Parrott in behind and he just dinked it over the keeper. Replay shows it was the right decision.
63 mins: Good positive impact from the subs, Ebosele with good feet on the wing, then passes to Taylor on the edge of the box, whose shot goes wide. 6,312 is the attendance tonight.
60 mins: Despite the lack of quality, plenty of physicality and beef in this game in the second half, Sinani gets a yellow card for a cynical foul on McAteer when he had the pace to get through, then Parrott gets a yellow for dissent. Not so friendly.
57 mins: Yellow card for Ferguson for stopping a counter, takes down Carlson. Festy Ebosele is on for Philips. Jack Taylor also on for Smallbone.
54 mins: McAteer puts in a decent cross but headed away by Korac. An even better cross by Manning to McAteer who misses the target in a great area, hits Parrott’s hand as he tried to backheel the rebound.
50 mins: Ireland all over the place as Luxembourg have a great chance, saved by a crucial Knight block from Jans. Much livelier start to this half by both teams.
48 mins: Better from McAteer at the start of the half, drives at the defence and takes a decent shot but just wide of the post.
45 mins: Decent move from Luxembourg at the end of the half, but O’Brien shows his power and pace to cover well, and it’s half-time.
Half-time: Luxembourg 0 Ireland 0
Poor game and poor performance by Ireland. But almost went into the second half ahead thanks to Collins. It can only get better.
43 mins: Parrott breaks through but is tackled heavily by Dzogovic. Free-kick by Smallbone... and Ireland hit the post!
By far the best chance of the match, really well headed back in at the back post by O’Shea and Collins gets good contact on it from a difficult angle, so close.
39 mins: A half-chance for Luxembourg, Rodrigues sneaks in a gap between midfield and defence and plays a ball across the six-yard box, attacker can’t get to it though. Ireland have been second best tonight so far, they really need to up it a level.
36 mins: McAteer nearly gives away a big chance at the back but recovers to just give away a corner. Korac connects with the corner but goes out for another one. They mess up the second one though.
33 mins: The two captains collide as Jans goes in on Collins and leaves him with a sore one. Knight gets away with one, Sinani nearly grabbed the ball off him advancing on goal but he got a free-kick out.
29 mins: Finally a chance and shot on goal, for Luxembourg. Sinani breaks through the midfield press and takes a shot from distance which is very well hit, good save by O’Leary.
27 mins: Some nice turns by Philips in midfield, who has looked very comfortable on the ball on his first start. But zero shots on target in the match in 27 minutes...
23 mins: Clever ball in behind by Knight just runs into the keeper but the right idea. Then Ireland win the ball from the press but the pass is overhit to Smallbone, sloppy.
20 mins: A long hopeful ball goes out of play by Brady as there is more intensity in the protests against Rodrigues than there is on the pitch, with the crowd holding up red cards.
An early sub for Ireland as unfortunately Brady goes off injured after pulling something. Manning coming on.
16 mins: Rodrigues takes a shot from distance, but it goes low and well wide of the goal. Probably should have left it for Bohnert in behind. Some tension between Parrott and Borac over a physical clash.
13 mins: A stalemate so far, very much an end-of-season feel to it. Luxembourg passing the ball around better than Ireland, Ireland happy to keep their shape and they haven’t caused them too much to worry about. A decent cross by Jans is well cleared by O’Shea. Rodrigues getting jeered.
6 mins: Lots of possession early for Luxembourg, Brady gives away a foul in a dangerous area on Sinani. No chance to speak of yet though.
3 mins: An early corner for Luxembourg, they try a short corner routine but it doesn’t come off.
The teams are coming out on the pitch, kick-off in five minutes.
Today is Hallgrímsson’s birthday:
He is 58 years old. After losing his first two matches as head coach, Ireland have won four, drawn one, lost two of the next seven games. Much improved and he would love to win another one on his birthday.
Gavin Cummiskey reports that Ireland have been training in a 4-4-1-1 in training without the ball, switching to 3-4-2-1 with the ball, Smallbone and Ferguson the two.
It will be interesting to see if John Patrick gets a cap tonight, Hallgrímsson suggested this game may come to soon for him:
“He wanted to commit to Ireland. I think he had two or three other nations to choose from and that is something as an association we need to look at because there are going to be a lot of dual nationalities in the future.
“A good kid, he obviously has to grow a little bit more as a player to be starting for Ireland, but we thought it was a good moment to look at him, to see him and he’s done well in training. But we see he needs to improve in certain areas and that is the message to take home.”
Luxembourg head coach Luc Holtz has defended his decision to continue selecting Gerson Rodrigues despite a crowd protest over the striker’s presence in last Friday’s 1-0 loss to Slovenia.
Rodrigues was given an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, the 2020 Miss Luxembourg, Emilie Boland.
In April, Rodrigues lost his appeal against the charges and subsequent fines.
[ Luxembourg head coach defends decision to continue selecting Gerson RodriguesOpens in new window ]
Ireland team is out. Rodrigues starts for Luxembourg despite the controversy surrounding him. Max O’Leary makes debut, Phillips first start.
Here is the match preview from Gavin Cummiskey.
"Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson invited the travelling media to watch the Monday morning session at Stade de Luxembourg, where the bones of a potential line-up played the rest of his 24-man panel.
“Bosun Lawal and John Joe Patrick Finn anchored midfield for the orange bibs but neither is expected to win a first cap against the Grand Duchy, certainly not from the start.
“The other nine on show, however, could feature when Hungary come to Dublin for the crucial opening World Cup qualifier on September 6th.”
[ Heimir Hallgrímsson unlikely to spring a surprise against LuxembourgOpens in new window ]
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Ireland’s game against Luxembourg, an international friendly to round off the season, at the Stade de Luxembourg. Kick-off is at 7.45pm. After a 1-1 draw against Senegal on Friday, the Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men will look to get a win under their belt in Luxembourg. Ireland have beaten their opponents in six out of seven games in their history, but lost to Luxembourg in 2021 under Stephen Kenny, which will in memory. Expect a few new faces to get a run out in the last game before Ireland welcome Hungary for an all-important World Cup qualifier in September.
The teams will follow when they are announced.
