The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Dream over.
Ireland’s World Cup dream crushed by Denmark
The Republic of Ireland failed to qualify for the World Cup after losing 5-1 to Denmark in their playoff second leg in Dublin last night.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1 DENMARK 5 AGGREGATE 1-5
Christian Eriksen plundered a stunning hat-trick as Denmark shot down the Republic’s World Cup dreams to book their ticket to Russia in emphatic style.
The Tottenham midfielder, who had been effectively shackled in the first leg in Copenhagen on Saturday, took the second meeting of the play-off tie by the scruff of the neck with two superb finishes either side of half-time before lashing home a third late on.
In the process, he took his tally for the campaign to 11 goals, just two fewer than the Republic managed in their 12 games in the competition, before substitute Nicklas Bendtner converted a penalty.
Denmark boss Age Hareide had forecast that old friend Martin O’Neill could not be as negative as he had been at the Parken Stadium, and was confident his players could exploit that.
His assertion proved astute as, despite taking an early lead through Shane Duffy’s header, Ireland were simply unable to find the right balance between attack and defence after Cyrus Christie’s own goal had restored parity.
The organisation which characterised the Republic progression to the play-offs disintegrated horribly and in the end, they were picked off in ruthless fashion.
Having spent the 90 minutes in Copenhagen largely defending for dear life, there was an acceptance that they would have to be far more proactive if they were going to get past the Danes.
It was no surprise when O’Neill once against ignored the clamour for Wes Hoolahan’s inclusion, and he could hardly have been more delighted when, with less than six minutes played, his team took the lead.
Robbie Brady’s free-kick caused panic in the Denmark box and when striker Nicolai Jorgensen could only help the ball towards his own goal, Duffy rose to head past advancing goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
However, had it not been for former Motherwell keeper Darren Randolph, who reprised his first-leg heroics with saves from William Kvist and Pione Sisto, the visitors would have been level.
The wheels, though, came off in spectacular fashion inside three devastating minutes as first Christie could only turn the ball into his own net after Andreas Christensen’s 29thminute shot came back off the post and then Stephen Ward’s mistake was punished as Eriksen swept a first-time shot past Randolph.
O’Neill threw caution to the wind but the Danes revelled in the extra freedom and Eriksen completed a fine hat-trick before Bendtner converted a lastminute penalty after being felled by Duffy.