Moran: Duffy and Egan could be Ireland
AMID the dross in Tbilisi on Saturday, there was one shining light for Ireland – the new central defensive pairing of Shane Duffy and John Egan.
Yes, they weren’t facing Messi or Ronaldo and each man made one mistake in the match – Duffy in the first half and Egan in the second – that might have proved costly.
But the duo’s power and resilience went a long way to ensuring Ireland’s clean sheet and to ensuring that goalkeeper Darren Randolph didn’t have a serious save to make in the whole game.
Separately and individually, they were a strong force – indeed they had two of our three decent chances to score against Georgia.
Yet it is defending that is the lads’ bread and butter and that’s what caught Kevin Moran’s attention when he commented on the game.
“You can see that these lads take personal pride in defending, in closing down their man, in organising things, in being a physical force and never taking a backward step,” said the former Manchester United and Ireland centre-half.
“Both lads scream ‘defender’ at you when you see them play. No messing around, just get the job done. Duffy and Egan could be a pair for Ireland for a long time to come.”
That’s just the attitude that will be needed in Geneva tomorrow night when the attacking quality moves up a notch with Switzerland’s attack led by Benfica’s centre-forward Hans Seferovic.
Incredibly, despite the very poor creative effort against the Georgians, Ireland qualify for Euro 2020 if they beat the Swiss.
Is it likely to happen? Not on the evidence of what we endured in Tbilisi, but the Swiss are under pressure themselves after losing in Copenhagen later on Saturday.
If the home team loses tomorrow night, a Danish home win over Gibraltar next month – surely a certainty – puts them out.
So Duffy and Egan are in for a long night against a team fighting for its life.
Switzerland are a tough side that has consistently qualified for major finals in the last decade and a half.
And they have done it without a superstar in their ranks, just by being a hard team to beat.
Indeed the one Swiss player that might be well known to Irish fans, Liverpool’s playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri, misses tomorrow’s qualifier through injury.
But our centre-halves have to be ready for a lot of movement from the Swiss attacking midfielders and Seferovic.
Even though, Denmark beat them on Saturday, it was only because of three world-class saves from Kasper Schmeichel in the Danish goal that the home team prevailed.
All of the Irish defence will be wary too of the sort of late run from deep that saw Fabian Schar score for the Swiss at the Aviva last month.
Ireland need to track every run and there will be a big onus on Duffy and Egan to lead the defence, to make sure that Ireland’s midfielders are not
caught out. Schar wasn’t tracked that night. He, or someone else from the Swiss back-line, will be looking to do that again as a way of opening up the Irish rearguard.
In trying to stem the Swiss tide, the duo will be helped by the return of Enda Stevens at left-back after serving his yellow-card suspension against Georgia.
Matt Doherty tried his best in the role on Saturday.
However, he was caught out of position a couple of times and surely Stevens, so solid under McCarthy, will start in Geneva.
Of course, while defending is what they do, it’s probable that either of Ireland’s centre-halves, from a setpiece, might be our best source of what would be a truly Golden Goal in Geneva.
Egan almost delivered in the third minute with his header that hit the post and Duffy was there at the death, but unfortunately put his header from a corner straight at the Georgian goalkeeper.
Switzerland will have noted their aerial power from corners and freekicks, but actually stopping Duffy and Egan from getting in headers is easier said than done.
But what Irish manager Mick McCarthy will want most of all from his defensive pillars is another cleansheet.
Our Brighton Rock and bit of Sheffield steel need the best games of their lives tomorrow night if Ireland’s football team is to somehow surge from the scorn of last Saturday to becoming national heroes by the shores of Lake Geneva.