THE JUDGE JURY AND EXECUTION Bees ace steals show on O’shea’s big night
Shamrock Rovers striker Graham Burke also left an indelible mark on the evening when he babbed his goal for the Boys In Green.
On his first start – and second appearance having made his debut in Paris last Monday – Burke got the faintest touch to turn home Darragh Lenihan’s close range shot that was going in.
It was the first goal scored for Ireland by a League of Ireland player since Shamrock Rovers’ Ray Treacy bagged a double against Turkey in 1978.
Hoops star Burke made the most of the moment as it was his last involvement having been replaced (right) by Daryl Horgan before the restart even took place.
Leaving his mark like that will go some way to easing his frustrations in the first-half as team-mates time and again failed to spot the clever runs into space he was making.
Burke - who tends to score outrageous goals - could have played with a strobe on his head and they still wouldn’t have found him lukring in those dangerous final-third positions.
Poor decisions were made by those around him and potential scoring opportunities - or at least the chance to wreak havoc – went abegging. Burke will now spend three months sweating on whether he has done enough to merit inclusion for the Nations League opener against Wales in September - competitive games in FIFA’S book. These end of season friendlies were pitchperfect for Martin O’neill to run the rule but without a real creative spark in the side, he merits further inclusion.
Had his team-mates utilised him more last night, there might be no grey areas for the Rovers man to fret over in the months ahead.
O’neill deployed O’shea, Shane Duffy and Kevin Long across the back with Seamus Coleman and James Mcclean supplementing them as wingbacks.
In midfield, Declan Rice anchored a diamond with Jeff Hendrick and Callum O’dowda