Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CHEERS JONNY
Who else but Ireland’s talisman rescues a potentially vital point against a dominant Austria
JON WALTERS pulled a vital Republic of Ireland World Cup result from the fire yesterday with Martin O’neill insisting: “We’re in there fighting.” The Irish boss was fuming with ref Jose Fernandez Borbalan for ruling out a late Shane Duffy ‘winner’ and not awarding Walters a penalty. But while James Mcclean accused the Spanish official of being “a 12th man” for Austria, O’neill ultimately felt that Ireland’s woes were self-inflicted. After watching Walters grab an 85th minute equaliser (right) O’neill said: “We’re still in there fighting. The referee was very poor, I didn’t think we got a decision all day but he wasn’t the most contributing factor to us playing poorly in the first half. “That was down to ourselves but there was determination in the dressing room to address it and to keep our record going of not losing here.”
FOR 85 minutes, Ireland seemed determined to giftwrap Austria a World Cup lifeline and in turn sabotage their own qualification hopes. And then chaos ensued. Whether Martin O’neill’s charges deserved a point from this utterly madcap game is questionable after their alarmingly abject first-half performance. And yet they left Aviva Stadium feeling justifiably hard done by - and crying foul – not to have won, with fingers pointed at the Spanish referee for controversial calls late on. Shane Duffy led with an arm on the line as he bundled home his ‘winner’ three minutes from time but, from a standing position, it was always a borderline call. And Jon Walters, who saved the day moments before with a pearler of a finish despite being dead on his feet, was then denied a penalty when caught in the box. Malicious it wasn’t, but a penalty it was and afterwards an irate James Mcclean fumed: “They had a 12th man today.” The talk before the game was of Ireland “going to war” – comments from Roy Keane that in fact inspired a depleted Austrian side more so than his own team. War? Ireland barely mustered an arm-wrestle until those manic, ugly and yet bizarrely beautiful closing minutes in which both sides could have won. Darren Randolph, who kept his place in the team, pulled off a superb save to deny Florian Grillitsch from doubling Austria’s lead minutes before Walters’ heroics. His save fuelled a vociferous home crowd and the green shirts duly responded to their urges. O’neill’s men were carried along on a wave of pandemonium. But therein lies the frustration. Not only did it take Ireland 80 minutes to get going, it took that long to realise that Austria were, in fact, bang average too. Yes, it was another typically barnstorming finish and the attitude and character shown in that second-half cannot be faulted. But yet again, calls for a positive start fell on deaf ears as Ireland were gripped by fear and unable to play basic football in any meaningful way. We don’t expect a flowing game from a Martin O’neill team. Like it or not, you know it’s going to be bish-bash-bosh with Solpadeine on hand for the poor ball. His team usually comes into its own – in that unique way – when their backs are to the wall and Martin Hinteregger’s 31st minute goal at least f ocused a wandering mind. But Ireland would be more at ease with their standing in Group D if they could find a way to show their hand earlier and not just late on when equalisers are celebrated like winners. The positives? Ireland remain unbeaten and go into the final four games with everything to play for. Glenn Whelan, as captain, had a fine game in the engine room and Walters, even if it masks some obvious flaws, played with tremendous heart and courage once again. Kevin Long looked assured on his surprise competitive debut at centre-back and saw
a late header cleared off the line by Stefan Lainer. But too many of O’neill’s players failed to turn up. Jeff Hendrick made no impact while Robbie Brady - another Euro 2016 star - was only marginally better in a range of positions. He still supplied the booming punt forward which saw Walters outmuscle Aleksandar Dragovic to equalise with a brilliantly executed shot past ropey keeper Heinz Lindner. In terms of its directness, there were shades of Shane Long’s screamer that floored Germany here in the last campaign. ‘Fight As If There’s No Tomorrow, Today The Points Must Come’ read the giant banner unfurled in the wellpopulated away end. Juggling their formation from the 36th minute onwards, Ireland’s inability to compete in that opening half made Austria look better than they actually were. Marcel Koller’s men were there for the taking all night long but, devoid of any spark until those closing six minutes, Ireland lacked the self belief and the quality to capitalise. Jose Fernandez Borbalan may well have been Austria’s “12th man”, as Mcclean put it. But the finger pointing from green shirts is a little rich considering what went before it. Ultimately, the point keeps Ireland in the hunt with four games to go. But as O’neill cautioned earlier in the week “we have a million miles to go”. Hold onto your hats because the fun and games are only starting for this campaign.