IRELAND LOOK FOR ANSWERS SHANE McGRATH’S VERDICT—
Finding a scoring threat is big issue for Kenny
This was a drab, disjointed display from Ireland, one that Stephen Kenny needed to dodge.
For his first game as Republic of Ireland manager in his home town, Kenny (below) was desperate to oversee a positive performance and a first win in the Nations League. He got neither.
Instead, Ireland were shot down by a Finland team ranked 24 places below them and with a proven record as dodgy travellers.
The first win over Ireland came via substitute Fredrik Jensen midway through the second half but the visitors would not have been flattered by a greater victory margin.
Talisman Teemu Pukki, without a goal since January, must have been kicking himself that he didn’t add to his 25 international strikes.
With a new-look midfield of Harry Arter, Robbie Brady and debutante Jayson Molumby given a chance to stake a claim for the Euro play-offs, Ireland lacked invention in the first half.
While they chugged into second gear after the break, their two best chances came from pressing the Finns into errors, only Aaron Connolly and substitute David McGoldrick couldn’t cash in.
Clearly, Kenny has a huge job on his hands to oversee a change in Irish style, a way of playing that will create a winning identity for Irish teams.
After six competitive games without a win, and none at all in six Nations League games, Kenny has to convince his players that his way will lead them to a better place than this. Following a difficult opening week as manager, the Euro playoff in Slovakia in a month’s time appears beyond Ireland’s range based on what we have witnessed.
It will help Kenny that his players will be sharper from club games when they next hook up. Even then, it will require something special to beat the Slovaks in Bratislava.
Ireland have been on the slide since 2018 and have yet to reach the turning point where things start to get better. A dearth of goals continues to be an issue for Ireland as Kenny is finding out.
The team he named had 12 goals between them and eight of the players had yet to score.
While the flat atmosphere didn’t help, both sets of players have been used to the new normal since June, so that was no excuse.
If the first half was being marked out of ten for entertainment, it barely merited a two as Ireland’s absence of pace and creativity was exposed.
Brady pinged a few balls about, Arter won a few tackles but it was mostly pedestrian stuff.
Keeping the ball under orders is fine in its own way but it allows the opposition to get goal-side and into shape.
When Ireland tip-toed across the half-way line, they were confronted by a white barrier of five Finnish shirts, buttressed by an inner wall of three. There was simply no way through.
And Kenny has to find another way as Ireland won’t damage any
SPORTSFILE decent teams playing like this, never mind lower-ranked outfits like Bulgaria and Finland.
If that means getting the ball from A to B at a faster tempo then it should be considered. A second striker in attack might not be a bad thing either.
The Finns were better at getting players behind the ball when they lost possession and also counterattacked more swiftly than Ireland.
It helped that they had two men to aim at, compared to Ireland’s lone runner – Adam Idah.
There was another shocking lack of organisation from a back four of Premier League experience who were playing together for the third game in a row.
For the second time in three days, Shane Duffy and John Egan got their signals mixed up as they allowed Pukki to drift in between them in the ninth minute.
Put through by a standard sliderule pass from the influential Robert Taylor, Pukki was odds on to score, only for Darren Randolph’s outstretched leg to avert the danger. It was the second early let-off as Egan had been at full stretch to whip the ball away for a corner after Taylor was set up by Pukki.
In fairness, there was a marked improvement from the men in dark green shirts in the second half. There had to be.
Pressing their opponents into errors, the first chance fell to Connolly, who slashed into the side netting before Callum O’Dowd’s last act before limping off was to cut inside and let fly with a rightfooter that fizzed wide.
However, the uplifting mood was shattered by Jensen’s lightning introduction.
With his first touch, he harried Arter into an error and when Taylor was fed by Pukki in the insideleft channel, the substitute continued his run into the box.
With Ireland stretched, Taylor calmly squared the ball across the