Coleman’s broken leg mars night for Ireland

Ramsey, David Busst and Eduardo. Taylor was distraught in the dressing-room after the match and, while all thoughts now are with Coleman, this was an incident that will scar the careers of both men.

It was hard not to suspect that his indiscipline had been borne of frustration. It occurred in the 69th minute and, until then, Ireland had defended stoically despite Wales’s dominance of possession.

Tension had been gradually mounting. First-half elbows by Shane Long and Glenn Whelan had upset Wales but Aaron Ramsey had then caught Whelan with a high foot. According to Ireland manager Martin O’Neill, Bale’s lunge towards John O’Shea was also potentially worthy of another straight red. There was not even a shot on target from either team during a first half in which Ireland, who had lost James McCarthy during the warmup, were sufficiently well organised happily to cede possession before breaking forward on the counterattack.

Bale did occasionally break free and delivered one very big warning when he cut back inside from the left before dissecting the entire Ireland defence with a sweeping cross-field pass. Taylor had both read Bale’s mind and timed his run perfectly but was horribly let down by his control and the chance went begging. Chris Coleman had started Hal Robson-Kanu in the hope that his added movement would create space for Bale and Ramsey but, with O’Shea and Richard Keogh dominant, the Wales manager introduced the more physical presence of Sam Vokes at half-time.

Ireland had been cautiously aggressive but were not playing completely without adventure and Jeff Hendrick did almost release Shane Long with a precise pass. There was then a series of angry exchanges either side of half-time, with Ireland twice pushing their luck with referee Nicola Rizzoli. First Long appeared to flick a glancing elbow at Ashley Williams, who was furious and clearly certain that it was a deliberate act. Whelan then did pretty much the same to Allen, his Stoke team-mate. Replays suggested that Allen was also justified in feeling that he had been struck cynically.

Wales re-emerged with an added attacking purpose and Bale soon had two clear sights of goal. The first followed O’Shea conceding a free-kick with a block of Ramsey but his effort was easily caught by Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph. Bale then produced a sud- den change of pace to sprint clear of Whelan and into space but his shot from 20 yards was a metre outside Randolph’s left post.

Having survived that period of Welsh pressure, Ireland produced their best spell of the game. Long’s aerial strength was evident when he rose to deftly head a chance into Jon Walters’s path but Williams delivered a superbly timed tackle just a split-second before he could shoot.

With Welsh frustration mounting, two tackles followed in the space of seconds that will have huge repercussions. First Bale, in trying desperately to get onto the end of a cross, caught O’Shea with a high studs-up lunge. It was dangerous rather than malicious but Rizzoli’s booking was correct. Taylor then dived in on Coleman’s right leg. Whatever the intension, it was inexcusably reckless. Ireland sensed their chance and pressed forward, with both James McClean and Keogh having shots blocked.

Wales became ragged but can threaten any team provided Bale is on the pitch and the talisman almost ended the night spectacularly in slaloming past several defenders and then unleashing a shot that grazed the outside of the post.