O’NEILL’S MEN STAY COOL AT CRUCIAL TIME

SOMETIMES it’s not about who is the best but who can handle it the best. Last night, Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland fronted up to the challenge while their opponents didn’t.

As a result, it is the Irish who will join their neighbours from the north in France next summer.

This was a game that lasted 90 minutes but, despite Jon Walters’ second goal with 20 minutes left, was effectively decided in the first 30. That was the period when the Irish took a grip of this game, the time when O’Neill’s team executed a plan while their opponents from the Balkans failed on all levels.

This is not a greatly talented Irish team but that, in a way, makes their performance here all the more impressive. Bosnia could not cope with the scale of the occasion. They had no discipline, no composure and, as such, no threat.

Ireland, by contrast, did cope. They played their football, kept their heads. When their chances came, they took them.

Within the first 20 minutes or so, Bosnia could have been a man down. They came not to play but to fight and it failed them. Ireland were measured. Walters took his first-half penalty beautifully and his second half goal with even greater elan.

This, however, had been a campaign that only really gathered momentum late on. Until Scotland — who took four points against the Irish — stumbled against Georgia in September they seemed to be meandering carelessly down the road to nowhere. Shane Long’s right foot then delivered the Irish a victory over Germany which spelled the end for the Scots.

Yet, failure to reach even this stage would have left O’Neill’s management open to question. He looked a shadow of his former self during his time at Sunderland.

As the stakes grew, however, and his team managed to gather some momentum, so O’Neill has appeared to come into his own. Ireland were plucky in defeat against Poland as they made a late dash for an automatic spot in their final group game and last Friday’s match in fogbound Zenica seemed to appeal to the 63-year-old’s sense of occasion.

Certainly the draw in Bosnia came on the back of O’Neill’s doggedness, cussedness and organisation. Going right back to his days as a muchcriticised forward at Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest and into his early management days at Wycombe and Leicester, he was often at his best when he thought nobody really fancied him.

Ireland, faced by a team more than 20 places higher in the rankings, played better football than they had on Friday with a composure that seemed beyond Bosnia. The return of Walters helped. It gave Ireland a focal point. O’Neill, meanwhile, solved his left-back problem by selecting Robbie Brady, who was impressive.

The crowd responded in kind, too. The unfortunate decision by some Bosnian supporters to heckle during a minute’s silence for Paris only served to stir up the home support, as did the sight of Robbie Keane haranguing an opponent for getting in his way during the warm-up. Great stuff, that.

Ireland’s breakthrough was fortunate, there was no doubt about that. Ervin Zukanovic was not even facing play when a cross from Daryl Murphy brushed past his arm and referee Bjorn Kuipers seemed to award the penalty more out of a sense of general irritation at the way the Bosnia players were behaving than anything else.

For Ireland, it was something of a gift. It still needed taking, though, and the manner in which Walters rolled his right instep across the top of the ball to drag it wide to Asmir Begovic’s right and into the corner told of a player calmly confident of his skills.

Subsequently, Ireland lost some momentum, some intensity and some territory. They never looked as though they may lose their lead, though. Walters’ second goal finally broke Bosnia.

For the Irish, an old maxim has proved true. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.