UEFA Under-21 European Championship qualifier England v Republic of Ireland St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton Tuesday, February 5th Kick-off: 7.45pm Republic of Ireland Squad: Darren Randolph - Charlton Athletic Shane Supple - Ipswich Town Eddie Nolan - Blackburn Rovers Richard Keogh - Bristol City Joe O’Cearuill - Barnet Darren O’Dea - Celtic Stephen O’Halloran – Aston Villa (On loan to Southampton) Darren Dennehy - Everton Stephen Quinn - Sheffield United Darron Gibson – Manchester United (On loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers) Owen Garvan - Ipswich Town Jim O’Brien - Celtic John-Joe O’Toole - Watford Anthony Stokes - Sunderland Keith Treacy - Blackburn Rovers Adam Rooney - Stoke City (On loan to Chesterfield) Andy Keogh - Wolverhampton Wanderers Billy Clarke - Ipswich Town. Strong squad. No Chris McCann, but that's not surprising. We are pretty much out of this competition, but it's a good opportunity for the lads to test themselves against what will be a strong English side.
Gibson is also out due to a family berevement. I'm hoping to watch on a Star Sports stream. Remember, match is live on Sky and on Fox Soccer Channel.
Watching it live now. Field is in crap condition. English are going down easy as well, ref is playing right to it.
English applying some good pressure, but the Irish defense has been very well organized. We've had some decent play in their end but nothing too dangerous.
0-0 at the half. Great organization at the back. The conditions might be hindering the English a bit, but I'm not complaining.
Yep, good half. We look a well organized midfield, but if England revert to 4 in midfield they could pose some more problems. Watching on a grainy stream, so I'm having a bit of trouble picking out individual players, but I'm quite impressed with O'Toole. Quinn, too, has been everywhere. One brilliant piece of skill by Garvan to create a shooting opportunity was the highlight of the first half.
Yea, the Garvan turn was sheer class. And another English appeal for handball. Is that the new tactic? Lump the ball into the box and appeal for a handball everytime?
O'Dea with an amazing block on the line. And there it is, we held out for about an hour but Milner slots home from just inside the box. Class finish. I don't see us getting a way back into this one.
3-0 loss in the end. The scoreline badly flatters England. Like at Turner's Cross, it was a very good performance by Ireland. The Sky commentators were full of praise for our lads. They did tire badly near the end, though.
Keogh had 2 real good chances in front of net. He needs to do better with those, but to be fair he looked dog tired on his run off the counter.
Was at the game and probably first time I've felt encouraged leaving a ground after losing 3-0. What let us down was our lack of finishing. Felt Garvan was our MOTM with O'Toole, Nolan good as well. The whole team were pleasing to watch confidently passing and probing but with little in the final third. The heads went down when the second went in. Great facilities at Southampton. But some old english traits still around especially when the PA announced us as the "Republic of Northern Ireland"...... KOH
I wish. Ask anyone who was there. They also had to ring the Irish Embassy to get our national anthem........ KOH
Wow! That must be against the rules or something. Going to England to spend money on football there, watching a group of Irish players who abandoned Ireland for teams in England who don't play for Eircom League teams. Definitely against the rules.