A sunny evening in late March, an all-but full Aviva Stadium, a draw with the number one ranked team in the world and a long chorus of pantomime boos for Thierry Henry. When the world is drenched in horror, there's a lot to be said for enjoying the simple delights. Saturday's 2-2 draw against Belgium was about comeback goals and Chiedozie Ogbene and all the good things that may be.
For Stephen Kenny, it extends his team's unbeaten run to six matches. No, Belgium weren't at full strength but Roberto Martinez was still able to field six players who featured in this season's Champions League and three more who played in the Europa League. For Ireland, a team with two Premier League starters – three at a push – to twice come back from a goal down and send everyone home singing is not to be dismissed.
Lithuania come to Lansdowne on Tuesday night, a team ranked 88 spots below Ireland on the Fifa list. Their only wins in the past two years have come against San Marino and Bulgaria and they lost home and away to Northern Ireland last season. They present that other type of test that Ireland teams tend to struggle with occasionally – not a big dog to be brought down to size but rather a game that should be won and must be won in order to keep the good vibes going ahead of the Nations League in the summer.
“It’s better to have positive results than negative ones but it’s good to have performances as well,” Kenny said. “It reinforces the messages that we’re giving. It gives us a belief and that can be powerful when you do that having played against top-class international players. We have a lot to do.
“We don’t know the situation with Ukraine obviously, it’s a tragic situation. Scotland have been terrific and Armenia, we’re learning about Armenia. It’s a tough group, we know that but we’re looking to improve all the time. We’re getting better, we want to build a squad and we want to try and do ourselves justice in that.”
The draw with Belgium was pleasing to Kenny for plenty of reasons. Apart from the fact that they were twice able to break down a side that is so confident in possession, it was notable that Ireland kept playing to the house style – pressing high, penning Belgium in, taking chances on the ball. Kenny hailed John Egan for changing the tenor of the game when Ireland were 1-0 down with several interventions high up the pitch.
“To be fair, I thought John Egan changed a lot,” Kenny said. “His press was so aggressive from left centre back that he won some critical challenges and forced them on the back foot. Plus he took the ball out and added some calm to our play. He was very, very influential in that period when we needed someone to be. Both in terms of spectacular challenges, jumping from the halfway line to 25 yards from their goal to win tackles and then also carrying the ball out and being able to use it well.
“It wasn’t just John. For the chance we had at the start of the second half, Séamus [Coleman] broke on to the ball 25 yards from their goal. On that aspect of things, we were quite aggressive in terms of being able to get in front of their man and we committed players to a high press.
“Our pressing was relentless. And they struggled to get out in that period. It requires a huge amount of energy and you can’t carry one player, even slightly against a team with that quality. It requires huge determination. You leave yourself one-on-one at the back.
“We are willing to do that. We didn’t want to just be in a low block defending against them. You could play them mid-block and end up in a low block and not get out, because they’re that good. It’s a slow death. We’re not having that. We don’t want that. We want to try to affect the game.”
There was no question who affected it most, of course. Ogbene now has three goals in his first six internationals, a pretty stunning rise for someone who hadn’t even been capped this time last year. His three goals for Ireland match his tally for Rotherham this season, where he is seen as an attacking defender rather than a goalscorer. But on Saturday, he scored one, set up the other and brought the house down when he was announced as man-of-the-match.
“I knew he would be a real threat for us and that he had great attributes,” said Kenny of Ogbene. “But this is a spectacular start to his international career. To score three goals, two in qualifiers and one against the world’s number one team. He has to play a different role with his club at wing back. We don’t see him as that. We see him as a forward player.
“Apart from his goals, he gives us so much. We ask the players to elevate their performances above their club level. We need that if we’re going to play against the Belgiums, Portugals and all these teams. We need them to play above the level they’re at with their clubs.”
Not a bad manifesto at all.
