It wasn’t pretty, but Ireland and Denmark set up winner-takes-all clash after Copenhagen draw
Scoreless draw sets up decider in the Aviva on Tuesday
AFTER chiselling out yet another gritty performance on the road, the challenge for the Republic of Ireland is to sift for a grain or two of sparkle by the Dodder on Tuesday night.
If they can, the riches of Russia and the World Cup finals will be theirs.
Not since the end game to the ’94 qualifier when Spain came to Dublin has an Irish team held qualification for the World Cup in their grasp on home turf.
Ireland will need to be better than they were that afternoon – Spain won 3-1 – and better than this too but no one will quibble if they again defy the Danes and plunder a winner.
To do that, they will need to get on the ball more, use it better, be more creative and display more attacking initiative than this.
As Age Hareide predicted, Ireland were easy to read but difficult to play against in the Parken Stadium.
At times, they were not overly pleasant to watch but Martin O’Neill is a pragmatist first, a purist second and he sets out this team to be as effective as possible. Football is, after all, a results business and O’Neill is in credit in that regard.
Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen this was not. Instead, it was a dour duel of indifferent quality on a pock-marked pitch.
The Danes had the better chances, chiefly in the first half, but Darren Randolph was in defiant mood while errant Danish shooting helped.
The Irish showed little going forward and it was ironic that rightback Cyrus Christie smuggled the only clear-cut opportunity, just before the break.
On the anniversary of Armistice Day to mark the end of World War One, the World Cup play-off hostilities commenced after a spectacular pre-amble of flares and fireworks.
As cordite wafted across the cubelike stadium, it revived echoes of a foggy night in Zenica two years ago when Ireland plotted their way through the murk to seize the advantage against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
But this was always likely to be a stiffer test. In many ways, it mirrored the Welsh game as Ireland were away from home, confronted by a team in red and white whose key player was an impish midfielder, in this case Christian Eriksen.
And it also followed a similar pattern as Cardiff as Ireland were pinned back but kept their guard up and were content to live off the scraps of the odd free-kick and counter-attack.
While O’Neill has never been afraid to try something different in his team selections, few saw the selection of Callum O’Dowda coming.
It was the first competitive start away from home for the Bristol City winger, the youngest player in the Irish squad, born after the 1994 World Cup finals. O’Dowda, by inclination an attacking player, was required to channel back and provide cover for Christie but he was caught napping in the 12th minute when he failed to pick up the marauding Jens Stryder Larsen. In fairness, the diagonal pass from Peter Ankersen was a gem as Larsen ghosted into the box took a touch and let fly only for Randolph to beat away. The keeper did even better to bounce back on his feet and parry the rebound which fell to Andreas Cornelius, who struck the ball to close to Randolph. It was a double let-off for the Irish and it wouldn’t be the only one of the half. Just past the half hour, Ireland’s fifth captain of the campaign, Ciaran Clark, miscued a punt from Schmeichel to allow Eriksen a run on goal.
From distance, he released a stinging right-footer which seemed to catch Randolph slightly unawares.
Again, the keeper he parried and again the breaking ball fell to a Dane but Pione Sisto side-footed wide from a promising angle. This was a greater escape than the first.
For their part, Ireland were unable to get on the ball or string any decent passes together but from nowhere, they lifted the siege.
O’Dowd, who grew into the game after a shaky start, put Christie away and the right-back slipped the ball past Larsen and surged into the Danish box.
The angle was tight but this was a serious Irish chance and Christie, to his credit, threaded a right-footer towards goal, only for Kasper Schmeichel to stick out a left paw.
Even then, there was still hope for Ireland as the ball fell for Jeff Hendrick. Had he shot instantly on goal, Schmeichel was stranded but the midfielder took a touch and his effort was blocked for a corner.
If the first half was even, the second was possibly even worse in terms of high-end quality. Yet, the white lines held fast and the Danes lacked the vision to pick the lock.
Eriksen, for one, faded into the shadows as space was tight in midfield and the home team were forced to resort to long balls, which the visitors capably dealt with.
Ireland broke out when they could and a Robbie Brady free almost
fell kindly for Clark in the box.
Increasingly, the Danes ran out of ideas as a tense, if disjointed duel ticked towards the close.
With Shane Long a busy presence as substitute, Ireland appeared as comfortable as they had been all night, although Arter was fortunate to escape a caution which would have ruled him out of the return.
In a frantic finish, out of keeping with the game, Shane Duffy had a half chance for Ireland before the Danes managed a late rally. Randolph executed a smart save to thwart substitute Yussuf Poulsen before Christie deflected a shot out for a corner. Denmark: Schmeichel; Ankersen, Kjaer (capt), Bjelland, Larsen; Delaney, Kvist, Eriksen; Cornelius, N Jorgensen (Poulsen 64), Sisto (Bendtner 73). republic of irelanD: Randolph; Christie, Duffy, Clark (capt), Ward; O’Dowda, Hendrick (Hourihane 90+3), Arter (Whelan 88), Brady, McClean; Murphy (Long 74). referee: Milorad Mazic (Serbia)