MURPHY THRILLED TO SET UP HUGE FINALE
IRELAND BEAT MOLDOVA TO KEEP WORLD CUP HOPES ALIVE GOING INTO MEGA FINAL NIGHT
Daryl Murphy and Callum O’Dowda reflected on a job half done as the Republic of Ireland kept their World Cup qualification hopes alive with a 2-0 victory over Moldova.
Ex-Sunderland and Newcastle striker Murphy marked his 30th cap with his second and third goals for the Republic, who sit two points behind Group D leaders Serbia and one behind second-placed Wales.
A win in their final fixture in Cardiff should at least guarantee a play-off place, but Murphy had not been underestimating the task in Dublin last night.
The 34-year-old said: “It’s such a big game to score two goals and win 2-0. We kept a clean sheet, you can’t ask for any more, really.
“You always need an early goal and to start off well in a game of this magnitude.
“We knew what we needed to do, we needed to score early and see it out.
“We always knew that we needed to win this and we look forward to the next one.
“It’s massive, there’s everything on it, really. What we need to do now is rest and recover and make sure we’re all ready.”
Murphy has not often shown his best formfor Ireland, but he was happy to reward Martin O’Neill’s faith in him with two early goals.
In the second minute, Alexandru Dedov could on- ly help on Stephen Ward’s long throw-in and Murphy pounced to stab home.
Ireland netted again on 19 minutes, with only their fourth goal of the campaign at the Aviva Stadium, when Wes Hoolahan picked out Ward with an exquisite cross-field pass.
The full-back looked up before sending his cross to the far post, where Murphy rose unopposed to head it across keeper Ilie Cebanud.
The Nottingham Forest striker added: “I knew when the manager named the team and picked me, he’s put a lot of faith in me throughout the years I’ve been in the squad and I just thought I had to repay him.”
Bristol City winger O’Dowda, a lively and energetic debutant, admitted the pressure was on the Republic to deliver after Wales’ victory in Georgia earlier in the day.
He said: “We knew what we needed to do before the game. We performed and it was great. The boys are looking forward to Monday now and hopefully we can take the form into it.”
Sunderland’s John O’Shea was an unused sub.