KENNY’S ROB OF THE GREEN
Beleaguered boss Stephen gets lucky as Malta gift Ireland a winner from Callum
A WIN and a clean sheet but plenty to chew over ahead of much tougher tests next year.
Thank goodness for Callum Robinson’s alertness and for the generosity of Malta skipper Matthew Guillaumier.
Because anything less than a win yesterday and the boos that rang out at half-time from many within the 700-odd Irish crowd would have echoed long into the winter.
They travelled in the hope of seeing something better than the Norway display three nights earlier.
But it quickly turned into another night of frustration, another disjointed and sluggish display against a team bearing little resemblance to Euro 2024 qualification big guns France and Holland – or with little of the star-studded quality that Ireland will face next year.
The now infamous low block, Ireland’s Achilles heel, was deployed by Malta – as it was by Norway – and there was no way through it until Guillaumier’s 54th minute blunder.
There were five changes to the starting 11 – some expected, others less so.
Caoimhin Kelleher and Seamus Coleman were flagged up by Kenny on Saturday while Chiedozie Ogbene for Michael Obafemi was predicted long before it was known that the Swansea striker had picked up a hamstring injury.
A midfield switch was always on the cards but Jamie Mcgrath was the beneficiary, coming in ahead of Jeff Hendrick for Jayson Molumby.
And James Mcclean (inset), winning his 96th cap, got the nod at left-wing back for Callum O’dowda.
Disappointingly, there was no sign of Will Smallbone, whose performances for the under-21s and Stoke City suggested he had the guile to puncture the Malta defence.
Of the changes, Mcgrath had the look of a man determined to make up for lost time. He was on his toes and linked up well early on with Nathan Collins, who found a new home on the left of Ireland’s back three after starting last Thursday on the right.
Wigan ace Mcclean produced a storming start, packed with crunching tackles and tireless running.
Despite the urgency of his play, this was shaping up to be another night of frustration against yet another side happy to sit back and soak up the pressure.
On the handful of first half occasions that Ireland broke into the Maltese area, there were enough bodies to smother the danger and not enough invention to get through the white wall.
Mcgrath and Callum Robinson were both foiled in their efforts to
find a green jersey with a pair of low crosses from the left.
The Irish were also let down by poor passing and crossed wires, such as when Alan Browne failed to complete a five-yard pass to Matt Doherty just after the half-hour mark.
Browne was expecting Doherty to make a run down the right but the Tottenham man was caught on his heels so the ball zipped harmlessly out of play.
An overhit pass by Robinson to Mcclean also gifted possession back to the hosts.
So, it was a case of the same old problems in possession – and the same could be said for Kenny’s side when faced with a Maltese counter-attack.
A more incisive opponent might have made more of the handful of breakaways that had the Boys in Green scrambling to get bodies back behind the ball.
Jodi Jones should have scored in the 12th minute when he was Malta’s spare man in a quick attack.
Although Collins managed to close him down, the Oxford United forward got his shot off from the edge of the area but couldn’t direct it past Kelleher.
Four minutes later and another attack saw the hosts move the ball from left to right, where Teddy Teuma cut in onto his left foot and drilled the ball over.
The frustration of the Irish support – compounded by Browne’s failure before the break to stab home Matt Doherty’s low centre – was evident as half-time was greeted with boos. Moments earlier, Robinson couldn’t hide his own frustration when his frontpost delivery from the left wasn’t anticipated by Ogbene.
But he was a much happier man shortly after half-time.
Ireland’s opener was a gift, a dreadful back-pass by skipper Guillaumier but credit to the Cardiff City man for the anticipation and calm head to seize the opportunity.
He cut out the pass and with keeper Henry Bonello stranded at the edge of his area, quickly stepped to his left and finished into an empty net from 20 yards.
Quick thinking and decisive action, something there was far too little of last night.