Gibraltar 0 Ireland 4
News coming out of Brussels. Belgium’s qualifier vs Sweden has been abandoned after a suspected terrorist attack in the city.
The goals in order:
1 min: We’re underway in Faro! Ireland are in their white away strip as Gibraltar, playing in red, kick things off. Duffy immediately breaks up an attack as the ball trickles out of play for a throw.
Full-time: Gibraltar 0 Ireland 4
Job done for Ireland. They scored four good goals, kept a clean sheet and never looked like wobbling as some feared they might given the low confidence levels of the group.
Mikey Johnston is a deserved man-of-the-match, but in reality it could easily have been Jamie McGrath or Chiedozie Ogbene who opened up pockets of space in midfield or down the right respectively. A word also for Matt Doherty who bounced back from a frustrating display against Greece with a goal and two assists.
Stay tuned for Gavin Cummiskey’s match report from Faro.
90+4 mins: Coleing is miles off his line trying to clear the ball. It falls to Manning who is urged to shoot by the 3,000 strong Irish support. He does so, Coleing has to scramble back, but it’s well wide.
Mikey Johnston has been named player of the match. He got his goal, while he was a constant threat cutting in from the left during the hour or so he was on the bench. Ogbene put a good case forward for the award as well.
Four minutes of added time.
89 mins: Gibraltar have sent the ball into the side netting but Chipolina’s strike was never threatening Bazunu’s goal. Idah could have done better to deal with that ball into the box but Chipolina was off balance when trying to cash in.
84 mins: Wow. Molumby shrugs off his marker not once, not twice, but three times before eventually being shunted unceremoniously off the ball in frustration. Out comes the card as Sergeant has his name taken.
GOAL CALLUM ROBINSON
Ogbene is down after an off-the-ball collision. It looks like Casciaro left a shoulder in as Ogbene looked to run by bit no foul comes. Ireland don’t need it though as Callum Robinson gets his head on the end of another cross into the area. Jamie McGrath with the assist but NOT SO FAST!
VAR is having a look and Robinson could well be offside...
GOAL STANDS! Well, the replay I saw looked definitive, Robinson was offside. But the officials have seen something else and Robinson has Ireland’s fourth.
76 mins: SAVE! Idah’s chest down to Molumby is a deft touch but the sub’s shot is blocked. McGrath reacts quickest and fires but Coleing makes a good reflex save.
More changes for Ireland. Dara O’Shea replaces Liam Scales in defence, while Jayson Molumby is on in midfield for Josh Cullen.
72 mins: NO PENALTY! Ogbene goes down in the box and immediately looks at the referee. He waves at Ogbene to get up and it looks to be the right call, not enough contact. On the counter, Doherty kills play with a foul and is duly booked.
71 mins: CHANCE! Shane Duffy has a free header at a corner but heads it straight at the ‘keeper. Easy save for Coleing, you normally expect Duffy to bury those chances.
A pair changes for Ireland. Evan Ferguson is replaced by Adam Idah, Mikey Johnston by Callum Robinson.
Robinson’s first act is to sting Coleing’s palms with a right-footed effort cutting in from the left.
GOAL MATT DOHERTY
After a pair of assists earlier in the night, Doherty has his goal. McGrath’s flick at the front post off a corner is outstanding, contorting his leg athletically to flick it across the face of goal. Doherty has to work hard to get to the ball first, but he shrugs off the marker to head home from close range.
60 mins: Ireland are going through the gears again. First Cullen has a shot blocked on the edge of the box, then Ogbene. The ball eventually is played to Johnston who also takes aim, another deflection taking it behind for a corner.
57 mins: SHOT! A rare effort on goal from Gibraltar. De Barr puts his left boot behind it but in the end it’s a weak strike that trickles wide. Bazunu dives to be safe, making it look closer than it was.
54 mins: What is going on here? Josh Cullen gives away a free in an off-the-ball scuffle. Annesley, the Gibraltar player involved, reacts, pushes Cullen back and is given a yellow. Gibraltar still have the free, though? Baffling.
53 mins: Wasteful. Ireland have a free-kick in a dangerous position just outside the box but Ferguson blasts it over the bar.
51 mins: CHANCE! Knight should score. Johnston’s ball into the box is perfect as it bounces and sits up for Knight who, again, made an excellent run. He looks to head in from close range but cannot find the target.
50 mins: Gibraltar’s De Barr is lucky he hasn’t been given a card there. Ireland were breaking after defending a corner, with Johnston running into space and Knight making a brilliant run down the left. Up steps De Barr, cynically hauling Johnston to ground. Foul given, but no yellow.
47 mins: Coleing nearly makes a mess of things. He tries to claim a cross but hits it straight to Knight in the box. His effort is hit hard but Coleing recovers well to save.
From the resultant corner, Duffy lets fly from the edge of the area. It’s a brilliant strike and only just wide. Coleing was well beaten.
46 mins: Right then. Time for the second half. An Ireland win seems all but assured, the only question is how many they’ll end up with? No changes for either side at the break. Ireland start the half with the ball and straight away go to that right flank which has brought them so much joy so far.
Ogbene sticks the ball into the box where McGrath gets a header on target, but it’s straight at the ‘keeper Coleing.
Goal number two? Just rinse and repeat but with a different scorer. Again, no one picks up the run of Doherty. Again, Ogbene finds him with ease. Again, the cross is steered home, this time by Johnston who reacts well once his initial effort smashes into the post.
Let’s run through the goals.
Why Gibraltar keep letting Doherty run free is beyond me. Regardless, Ogbene sucks in two defenders for the first goal, finding his wide mate on the overlap. Doherty then picks out Ferguson in the box who does the rest with a good first-time finish.
Half-time: Gibraltar 0 Ireland 2
No wobbles from Ireland so far. Their wide play has been very threatening, with the Doherty+Ogbene link-up providing both goals.
On the opposite flank, Johnston has been a threat cutting in onto his right foot, while his goal came from chasing a Doherty cross into the area.
Ireland are comfortable at the break.
45+1mins: CHANCE! Johnston should score. McGrath beats his man with the stepover, picks out the cross with Johnston coming into the box. He gets there first but somehow doesn’t make contact.
Just the one minute added on at the end of the first half.
41 mins: SAVE! McGrath does so well to keep the ball in play, a heavy first touch after being played in behind nearly costing Ireland. Instead, he is able to steer it back in towards the box where Ferguson gets a touch. It’s a good close range save from Coleing to deny Ferguson his second.
40 mins: Ogbene loses his footing at the vital time. A good ball from Cullen finds him in space just outside the box. Cutting in onto his left, he looks to let fly but a slip means the contact is awful as it sails high and wide.
37 mins: CLOSE! That man Johnston is involved again. This time McGrath just beats the defender to the ball, poking it into space. Johnston thinks he is able to speed onto it with a one-on-one with the ‘keeper beckoning only for Coleing to come flying off his line and clear.
31 mins: Johnston is hungry. Now he has it down the left, cutting onto his right foot before crossing into the middle. That one is overcooked, flying over Ogbene’s head as he looks to get in on the fun.
GOAL MIKEY JOHNSTON
It’s that duo Ogbene and Doherty causing havoc again. The latter finds the former in space once more down the flank, and his cross is the killer ball. This time it’s Johnston on the end of it, his first effort cannons into the post but he is able to flick the ball over the line from his knees.
25 mins: ANOTHER CHANCE! Ireland are putting the foot down now. Johnston dances infield from the left, beating two defenders before taking aim from just outside the box. He strikes it well with his right and forces a decent save from Coleing. That was swerving.
24 mins: CHANCE! Duffy has missed a sitter at the back post. Manning’s corner is a beauty. McGrath gets a flick as it evades two white shirts before falling to Duffy at the back post. Perhaps he’s surprised both teammates missed it as he snatches at the chance, fluffing it behind for a goal-kick.
23 mins: For the first time tonight, Bazunu has something to do in the Ireland goal. Liam Walker fires in a free-kick for Gibraltar. There’s plenty of pace on it but the Ireland ‘keeper comes off his line well to gather.
19 mins: More joy for Ireland down the right. This time Knight makes the run, Doherty plays him in with a pinpoint ball but a last-ditch challenge sends the ball out for a corner. Doherty makes a run at the ball into the area from the set-piece but completely misses as it trickles harmlessly out for a goal-kick.
13 mins: Manning tries to play Doherty in over the top but the ball is over his head. Ireland are having a lot of joy down this right flank, Doherty and Ogbene linking up nicely.
10 mins: Doherty is caught late with a nasty challenge, but no card is shown. From the resulting free-kick, Manning threatens at the back post but Coleing does enough off his line to gather, albeit not in the most convincing fashion.
GOAL EVAN FERGUSON - 7 minutes in, Ireland hit the front. It’s brilliant initially from Ogbene, holding the ball before unlocking the defence with the pass to the overlapping Doherty. He runs into space towards the byline far too easily, but his cross is a good one which Ferguson steers home with his right foot.
That’s his third international goal.
6 mins: Johnston gets his first chance of the evening to run at his marker. Sergeant doesn’t know a lot about the challenge as the ball passes through his legs, but he gets enough of a touch to disrupt Johnston and Gibraltar clear.
4 mins: This time is Josh Cullen’s turn to float a ball into the box. It’s a clever option, spotting the run of Johnston but the Burnley man overhits it as Coleing gathers easily in the Gibraltar net.
2 mins: Ogbene threatens early. He dances inside one defender, takes on another and fizzes a ball into the box. Ferguson times his run well but is beaten to it in the air by the centre-back.
Here come the teams then, it’s time for the anthems. It’s a very sparsely populated Estadio Algarve. Being honest, it looks like that pocket of 3,000 Irish fans on the Irish side is the only significant grouping of fans.
Obviously it’s a large step up in terms of the level of opposition. By doing that of course it’s time to keep working hard and to keep improving, and that’s something that I will continue to look to do. And I feel at Burnley I am in the right environment to do that.
— Josh Cullen ahead of tonight's match
Josh Cullen is in the unenviable position of playing both for Ireland and Burnley, two sides whose form leaves a lot to be desired. Still, Cullen believes the exposure and international and Premier League level is benefitting him despite the results.
Here is the Gibraltar team. Louie Annesley will be a familiar face given he plays his club football for Dundalk, albeit he hasn’t played for them since August due to injury.
The Ireland team is in. The big news is Nathan Collins has been dropped. The Brentford defender was of course substituted at half-time vs Greece. Stephen Kenny later said it was because he wanted Ryan Manning, a left-sided attacking player, on with Liam Scales, a left-footed centre-half.
Collins did have a role in both Greek goals, though, as many have pointed out. Be it due to performance or formation, Manning and Scales are in from the start and Collins is not.
Elsewhere, Jamie McGrath and Mikey Johnston come into midfield and onto the wing in place of Alan Browne and Will Smallbone.
Maybe at the time it was just populism – and maybe it’s since been exposed as empty populism – but it was still preferable to the grim “there-is-no-alternative” futurelessness offered by the likes of O’Neill. At least Kenny had identified the problems and was promising to do something about them. At least he went down trying.
— Ken Early ahead of tonight's match
That result on Friday meant that Ireland’s automatic qualification hopes are gone. As for the prospect of earning a playoff, well, that’s complicated. They need a lot of results to go their way across the qualifiers, not just in their own group. Plenty of these are unlikely in and of themselves; so is the prospect of seeing Ireland play in Germany next summer, even if they win tonight and secure an unlikely victory away to the Netherlands next month.
[ Struggling Ireland desperate for a victory over minnows GibraltarOpens in new window ]
In case you missed Friday night, Ireland were already in action during this international window. It wasn’t pretty. Catch up on Gavin Cummiskey’s match report from a 2-0 defeat to Greece at the Aviva Stadium below.
[ Ireland outclassed and out of time as Greece pick off three points at their easeOpens in new window ]
Another day, another live blog featuring an Irish national side. This time it’s the turn of Stephen Kenny and the footballers after a disappointing weekend for the country’s men’s rugby side.
In their penultimate qualifying match of this effort to reach Euro 2024, Ireland travel to take on minnows Gibraltar. Only the game isn’t actually in Gibraltar. Their home stadium is being renovated, so instead, it’s the Estádio Algarve in Faro, Portugal which plays host.
