Euro dream dies for Ireland after spot-kick agony
FOR Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland, t here was nothing but devastation as they crashed out on penalties to Slovakia. A play- off f i nal with Northern Ireland, victors in their own shootout with Bosnia, could have been theirs after a hard-fought 90 minutes and penalties.
When it came to the lottery of spot-kicks, however, there was only misery for the Irish.
Slovakia converted their first four kicks but Alan Browne saw his attempt saved and new Tottenham star Matt Doherty hit the crossbar as the hosts won the shoot-out 4-2.
It was a devastating conclusion to t he Republic’s Euro 2020 qualifying campaign which saw former Dunfermline boss Kenny taking over the managerial reins from Mick McCarthy heading into the play-off.
Kenny’s side undoubtedly deserved to progress to that all-Irish play-off final with their neighbours in Belfast next month but were punished for a combination of poor finishing and bad luck.
In recent days, it had been evident that Ireland were buoyed by Slovakia’s l oss of f our certain starters, a combination of coronavirus-related issues and injury weakening the hosts.
But, of course, the Irish bio-bubble was not Covid-proof itself and it was subsequently burst in the hours before kick- off, with news of a second positive test among their backroom team.
Brighton’s Aaron Connolly — who would have started last night — then disappeared from the matchday squad and so, too, did Norwich City forward Adam Idah.
It is thought that the pair had come into close contact with the infected individual, not unlike the situation that affected Stuart Armstrong, Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie in the Scotland camp.
James McClean, once an Irish talisman but more a missing man of late, earned promotion to the starting XI as a result.
The Stoke City winger dusted off any international cobwebs and was Ireland’s best player during a first half in which Kenny’s men were impressive, albeit without troubling the opposition goalkeeper. Some things never change. But it was McClean who came closest to breaking the deadlock and his snap-shot from ten yards was blocked inside the six-yard area by defender Martin Valjent in the 37th minute.
The only save of the opening period came from Darren Randolph, the former Motherwell keeper tipping away an effort f rom Slovakia’s Ondrej Duda.
From the resulting corner, Duda sent an ambitious overhead kick narrowly wide, much to the relief of West Ham man Randolph.
Substitute Browne was denied the opening goal by a 70th-minute save from Fulham keeper Rodak, but Slovakia would have been ahead five minutes later had Celtic defender Shane Duffy not been in the right place at the right time to hack Lukas Haraslin’s attempt off the line.
Conor Hourihane should have opened the scoring with five minutes remaining when he was fed in front of goal after McGoldrick had carved his way into the box, but he scuffed his right-foot shot and the home side managed to smuggle the ball away as the game reached 90 minutes at 0-0.
McGoldrick and Browne both went close in a lightning start to extra time, and Browne was denied by the post after latching on to Callum O’Dowda’s 104th-minute cut-back.
Neither team could break the deadlock before the end of extra time and the tie headed into penalties.
Slovakia converted their first four penalties, but Browne saw his attempt saved and then Doherty hit the woodwork as the hosts prevailed.
SLOVAKIA (4-3-3): Rodak; Pekarik, Vavro (Gyomber 112), Valjent, Mazan; Kucka (Gregus 86), Hrosovsky, Hamsik; Rusnak (Mak 90), Duda (Bozenik 107), Mihalik (Haraslin 74). Subs not used: Bero, Schranz, Koscelnik, Pauschek, Kuciak, Greif. Booked: Duda, Hamsik. REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (4-3-3): Randolph; Doherty, Duffy, Egan, Stevens; McCarthy (Browne 61), Hourihane Hendrick; Robinson (O’Dowda 99), McGoldrick (Long 112), McClean (Brady 61). Subs not used: Kelleher, Molumby, Idah, Byrne, Williams, Connolly, Travers. Booked: Hourihane, McClean, Duffy. Man of the match: Shane Duffy . Referee: Clement Turpin (Fra).