Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BROWNE TO EARTH
Preston ace ends Ireland goal drought but Mitrovic
1-0
ALTHOUGH Stephen Kenny has this team playing some eyecatching football, that oh so familiar knot-in-the-stomach you get from watching Ireland remains.
It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a backs-to-the-wall approach of old, or an open and expansive gameplan, you just wouldn’t bet the house on Ireland seeing out a game.
Particularly when they take a lead, like they did in Belgrade after the impressive Alan Browne ended the 11-hour scoring drought with just the second goal of the Kenny era. But while Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic cannot hit a barn door in the Premier League, he
was the difference here and tormented Ireland in the second-half with sublime finishes.
His fellow substitute James Collins gave Ireland something to cling to with a scrambled goal in the dying stages, but lapses in concentration had cost Kenny’s team dearly before that.
This was a patched up Ireland team - the least experienced since 1982 - with key men ruled out with injuries while Kenny took confidence-shot Shane Duffy out of the firing line.
He deployed a new formation with three at the back for the first time and there was much to admire about a tenacious first-half performance.
But while Serbia took most of that half to size up Ireland, their equaliser
just before the break deflated Ireland and they easily turned it on thereafter when Ireland couldn’t. And therein lay the difference. Ireland lost their way and lost their rhythm but, mathematically, can of course still make up lost ground with seven qualifiers still to come.
But not only will Kenny’s men have to develop a winning habit, they need to find a ruthless streak to scalp either Portugal or Serbia down the road.
Browne’s 18th-minute goal was just rewards for a positive Irish start as they looked to get at Serbia from the outset.
He kick-started the move himself, playing in Enda Stevens who teed up Callum Robinson and when he
dinked to the back post, Browne got up ahead of Filip Mladenovic to head home. Having gone 678 minutes without scoring up to that point, the outpouring of emotion on the pitch and at the dugout was understandable.
Finally, that monkey was off the back and Kenny’s charges played on with confidence without really threatening.
Serbia huffed and puffed but Matt Doherty, Josh Cullen and Jayson Molumby snuffed out attacks at an early stage.
And Dara Oshea (right) and Ciaran Clark were waiting for anything that slipped through the gaps. But that rearguard did not remain watertight. The hosts pulled level two minutes before half-time with their first shot on target. Red-hot Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic peeled off O’shea’s shoulder to race onto a Tadic header and he beat Travers with a cool finish.
Irish penalty appeals were turned down early in the secondhalf when Aaron Connolly hit the deck under a sliding Stefan Mitrovic challenge.
It looked nailed on, but the Brighton forward has a habit of going down easily and the Italian referee didn’t buy it. By now though, Ireland were on the retreat and Serbia made them pay with 22 minutes to go. Mitrovic was only on the pitch four minutes but his chip from
GENIUS Mitrovic scores a wonder goal after coming off the bench outside the box, after spotting Travers off his line, was exquisite. And the Fulham striker floored Ireland again seven minutes later.
Ajax star Tadic, the skipper and beating heart of Dragan Stojkovic’s ( far left) side, clipped a ball into the box and the big hitman beat Clark in the air to head home.
And yet Ireland still produced a finish.
Shane Long chased down a Robbie Brady ball and paved the way for Collins to plunder a second with four minutes to go.
But an Irish performance that started with purpose and promised so much had already dissolved in such deflating fashion.
A tough World Cup mission has only got harder as focus switches to group minnows Luxembourg at Aviva Stadium on Saturday where nothing but a win will do.