Republic of Ireland 1 Switzerland 0
Up the Republic! Ciaran Clark’s third-minute goal was enough to see off Switzerland in what was a laid-back Good Friday football match. It wasn’t a bad warm-up act to what promises to be a momentous weekend across Ireland.
A harmless friendly match on the one Friday of the year when Dublin is a dry house was never going to be the most thrilling billing of all time – even if the Aviva itself was transformed into the worst-disguised speakeasy in the long history of prohibition.
Friendly games are a lottery but the opening passage of the match was a treat for Martin O’Neill. In his first involvement, Aiden McGeady linked with Robbie Brady to win a corner. That instantly led to another corner, delivered by Brady into the soft centre of the Swiss defence. Shane Duffy rose brilliantly to guide his header into the path of Ciaran Clark, who deftly headed home. One up by the third minute and everyone was happy. Minutes later, when Brady splayed a gorgeous free which curled beyond Ricardo Rodriguez and fell perfectly at the feet of Alan Judge, it was hard not to entertain the notion that Ireland were peaking a bit early for the summer tournament. By the 11th minute, McGeady had won Ireland’s fourth corner.
Reassuring
It was all very reassuring: it was good to see Robbie Keane and John O’Shea, the elder statesmen of this side now, yapping in the stand; good to see Shane Long chasing down causes lost and otherwise and, most of all, good to see the ever-likeable Kevin Doyle back in an Irish shirt for the first time since 2014.
Within minutes, Doyle had reminded O’Neill of what he is about, challenging Michael Lang for a high ball. Bravery has always defined Doyle and it cost him in the 24th minute when he was caught badly by Timm Klose chasing down a ball in his usual all-out effort. He came out worst in the collision and, after a delay, was stretchered off and appeared to be in considerable pain.
He was replaced by Daryl Murphy as applause rung around the ground. It was a terrible bit of luck for the Wexford man: a fleeting chance to revitalise what was a full-hearted international career, and to put himself in the forefront of O’Neill’s mind, vanishing even as he was dispatched to hospital to treat a deep gash in his leg.
“It is a deep cut but they are cleaning it out,” reported O’Neill.
“Nothing broken. He is going under anaesthetic to get it stitched up and hopefully everything will be all right. I thought he started well. He was trying to hold the ball up for us, something he was doing regularly a few seasons ago. He has had his times of woe and looked like he was getting into the swing of things. Obviously he will miss Tuesday but we will have a look and see.”
Coincidentally or not, the fizz went out of the occasion with Doyle’s departure, as if his misfortune reminded the other players that there are bigger days ahead.
“In the first 10 minutes we were kind enough to offer five, six corners to the Irish,” sighed Swiss manager Vladimir Petkovic. “We weren’t under that much pressure but we didn’t go into the zone that can hurt. It wasn’t a game that was hugely dominated by one team and we could have done better.”
Highlight of the night
That was true but Switzerland produced little to trouble Darren Randolph: Haris Seferovic’s looping 17th-minute header threatened but that was it. In the 55th minute, Clark advertised his growing stature in this Irish team with a brave and immaculately timed tackle on Breel Embolo deep in the Irish penalty area. His central partnership with Duffy was the highlight of the night; as well as manufacturing Ireland’s goal, the pair cancelled out everything the Swiss came up with.
“The two centre backs did very well,” said O’Neill.
“Clark I know very well from my Villa days and he has come on very strongly. He played brilliantly in the last two qualifying games and carried it on. And I thought Duffy alongside him did very well. Shane did very well. I took him to America a couple of years ago when he was on loan with Yeovil and I thought he showed a bit of promise there.”
It was a night, too, for the new boys: Aberdeen’s Jonathan Hayes and Bournemouth midfielder Eunan O’Kane were handed their first caps, joining Alan Judge who started. O’Neill sent on James McCarthy and Wes Hoolahan too: it is as well to win vanilla-flavoured friendly games as to lose them.
O’Neill confirmed that the injured Robbie Keane’s will miss Tuesday night’s match against Slovakia. For all his goals, Keane would have relished a run, just to keep in the mind’s eye. O’Neill gave a guarded affirmation that nothing he had seen here would lead to any radical changes in his summer selection and Ireland’s record goal scorer.
“He thought it would clear up in a few days and it is something he wants looked at now, either here or going back. He will miss Tuesday and I’m hoping it’s not a major concern. I don’t think it is. I don’t want to be scaremongering. If Robbie Keane is 27, he starts on our team. He is our best goal scorer and he is very much in our plans.”
