Republic lack any sort of spark in borefest

DENMARK: Ronnow, Ankersen, M Jorgensen, Bjelland, Knudsen, Schone, Hojbjerg, Braithwaite (Cornelius, 78 mins), Eriksen (Lerager, 45 mins), Poulsen (Gytkjaer, 65 mins), N Jorgensen.

Subs not used: Jensen, Vestergaard, Christensen, Norgaard, Dolberg, Dalsgaard, Hansen, Stryger Larsen, Sisto. REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Randolph, Keogh, Duffy, Long, Coleman, Christie, Hendrick, Brady (Robinson, 66 mins), Stevens, O’Dowda (Obafemi, 80 mins), O’Brien (Curtis, 65 mins).

Subs not used: Doyle, Lenihan, Meyler, Williams, Dunne, Kelleher, Hourihane, Hogan, Arter.

Referee: Aliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan) IS this the best the Republic of Ireland can do?

That’s the question facing the FAI hierarchy this morning after another horrible game to cap a deflating year.

Martin O’Neill’s team did secure a result, but it would be a stretch to describe it as a positive one.

An understrength Danish team did fail to break down a sturdy rearguard.

But they had no real need to do so. Christian Eriksen was withdrawn at half-time because this was a dead rubber. There was exasperation at some poor second-half misses, yet Age Hareide’s team were hardly banging the door down in the dying minutes.

In the circumstances, it’s impossible to argue that the Republic’s display represented some form of progress from October’s scoreless double-header.

O’Neill’s team did go unbeaten on their travels in the World Cup campaign, but they had more experienced players then. A younger team is now operating in an even more negative manner.

Without coherent patterns of play to hurt teams in the opposition half, they will go nowhere. O’Neill has managed to stem the tide from the drubbing in Cardiff, but the price for that is the absence of attacking innovation.

The glass half full view on the year is that it’s been about transition. The half empty take is that it will go down as regression.

And the latter view would appear to be the popular one if the mood amongst travelling fans in Aarhus is a barometer.

The long road towards Euro 2020 promises to be a slog.

It was bleak by the break, with the Danes reduced to silence by a half that was hard to watch. For blanket weather, the Republic adopted a blanket defence.

The references to a 3-5-2 formation are misleading because it’s really a 3-6-1 with Callum O’Dowda — who was notionally supposed to support Aiden O’Brien — spending the majority of the match close to Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick and Cyrus Christie with the protection of a five-man defence around them.

Lone striker O’Brien, who got the nod ahead of Callum Robinson, also spent a fair portion of time on the defensive too. The Republic have failed to score a first-half goal in 2018 and there was never a danger of that statistic being threatened.

Enda Stevens, in for his first competitive start, did make an early break into the box that was cut off, and a Brady free-kick struck the side netting, but that was basically the chance count. Denmark had the better attacking moments.

Stevens got away with a tug on Danish right-back Peter Ankersen inside the area, and the locals continued to target that flank. Ankersen called Randolph into action with a cross-shot before the interval.

Eriksen meandered around in an attempt to make things happen, often at walking pace.

Hendrick was used as the defensive midfielder and was never too far away from the centre halves; indeed, there were long spells where it seemed as though all of the Irish engine room operators were holding.

With nothing at stake for the natives, urgency was optional. The Republic’s strategy appeared to be about self-preservation.

Christie’s discomfort in midfield remained a feature of proceedings, with the career fullback uneasy when trying to take the ball facing his own goal. Denmark seized on the weakness.

But this was scrappy, ugly fare, and the half-time withdrawal of Eriksen provided further frustration for the home supporters.

That said, the Danes should have gone ahead from the restart when Yussuf Poulsen fired wildly over after messy defending.

And they squandered a glorious opportunity to break the deadlock when Richard Keogh was caught in possession and Nicolai Jorgensen wriggled free