Rep. Ireland v Bulgaria

To start here are some clichés that football people love:

‘Well at the end of the day…’
‘Early days…’
‘The front two should sit behind the back four…’
‘A bit of unbalance at a high level at a wide area…’
‘Not the dream start, Gabriel…’

Pre-match talk
Now I’m not in Croke Park for the match but I am tuned into RTE radio to try and get a handle on the upcoming match. The excitement starts with the cacophony of THE POGUES, followed by the obligatory THIN LIZZY with ‘The boys are back in town’.

The pressure tonight is resting on Bulgaria and this home tie has everyone in good form. The pundits and fans are upbeat about our chances. If we qualify for the next World Cup the whole of Ireland will be stuffing themselves with pizza and pasta. It is the Italian connection of having Trappatoni as our manager.

On RTE radio they were busy picking over why Trappatoni won’t play Andy Reid. “It’s a personality clash” one of the pundits sagely notes. Kenny Cunningham wants Ireland to “steamroll” over Bulgaria and have the match over by half time (?)… The Bulgarian anthem booms around the GAA stadium like a funeral march. It should be appropriate as Ireland are favourites to win this match. We need to bury Bulgaria tonight.

First Half
With the formalities barely out of the way Ireland are leading, in the first couple of minutes, courtesy of Stephen Hunt. The commentary team are, understandably, thrilled. “They’re gonna have to go after Ireland now” Gabriel Egan tells the listeners. But everyone is busy cheering on the home side to bother paying attention to RTE radio’s top football commentator. The pitch is said to be in fine condition. “No excuses now” a pundit stresses. The Lansdowne Road days are long gone when we could blame the state of the pitch for bad results.

Aston Villa’s Petrov and Manchester United’s Berbatov appear to be the main threat from Bulgaria tonight. But early on it’s Richard Dunne who is making the running for the green team. He’s “imposing himself on the match” someone points out. Eoin Hand (Ireland manager in the pre-Charlton era, now a pundit) tells us that the Irish performance, early on, is “predictable”. Bulgaria have all the pressure on them and one suspects they could score at any moment. Like Colin Farrell in a nightclub.

Well Trap is on his feet. He’s “animated” and Ireland are unable to retain the ball. I’m happy to drain my bottle of Czech beer (thankfully it’s not Bulgarian - that would be “treachery”, in the words of a famous Irish republican). The beer accompanies the action from Croke Park that I’ve decided to monitor tonight. The nerves are jangling. Even though we’re 1-nil up, an equaliser may be about to be scored – it always happens to us! Eoin Hand is nearly hoarse from saying how “scrappy” the game has become. You couldn’t disagree with his analysis. Hunt, in the first half, would seem to be our main weapon to hit Bulgaria with.

Will we be going to Italy with a good feeling? Or will Bulgaria spoil things? It’s clear that this Ireland side will have to be an awful lot sharper if we are to get a good result when we play Italy next Wednesday. Even though Ireland are in front at the moment, we ain’t calling the shots. From bitter past memories Irish fans cannot be too jubilant. Just like the Rugby team, last Saturday, concentration is essential. Unfortunately we can’t use the services of a Brian O’Driscoll. Ireland’s national football sides always cause my heart to pound and I’m not the only one. At the end of the first half Gabriel Egan sums up: “Ireland aren’t playing well”. We’re not imposing enough.

Half Time
Over on RTE television the disappointment was just as clear. Giles and Dunphy were rightly critical of the first half. However the pictures of Bernard Dunne walking out onto the Croker turf proudly displaying his boxing belt to the crowd was nice to see. A wonderful man and a battle hardy sportsman. Hopefully the players, tonight, will be more daring and try and show more of the fighting spirit that Dunne, obviously, has in abundance. We need to score in the second half and relieve some of the pressure. Ireland’s lead is “delicate” the angel Gabriel tells the listeners to RTE radio. My arm accidently brushes a china cup near me and I understand exactly what he means. Delicate.

Second Half
The nerves haven’t settled. You’d nearly say that Bulgaria should get a goal; such is the pressure they hit us with. Our lead is slender! The worrying thing is that Ireland, as Hand says are “defending deep”. You can’t help getting the impression that neither side are worthy of playing in the next World Cup. As Gabriel Egan says Ireland are “not able to build on the lead”.

Stephen Hunt and Paul Mac Shane are defending well and are working hard to frustrate Bulgaria but Ireland are not finding their rhythm. We should, as a teacher’s report might say, be doing better. As usual Kevin Kilbane gives 110 per cent - an industrious player. He never gives up and is a good example too any young fellow with any interest in the sport. Contrast that with Celtic’s Aidan McGeady who is at best disappointing, he never gets into his stride which is a real shame as he has potential.

Bulgaria’s goalkeeper is saving them but we should be besieging them. We’re not and it is a mark of weakness on the part of this Irish side. We want them to finish off the eastern Europeans but it’s not happening. Eoin Hand tells us that Ireland should have “a bit of insurance”, but these are recessionary times and the team are unable to capitalise on their lead. We’re ahead, but the manner of Ireland’s play doesn’t auger well. Kevin Doyle is impressive though.

The 60,000 people in Croke Park for this match must be feeling tortuous at this stage. The story of the game is that Ireland cannot keep possession long enough to create chances. In Eoin Hand’s words: “it can be fatal” if we let Bulgaria back into the match.

GOOOALL! Christ my heart sinks as Bulgaria snatch the equaliser. It was expected as they were raining on our goal area. When you lead you go for the second goal, you don’t sit back. Ireland has a track record in this regard and it’s a real pain in the butt that we don’t learn. It’s sickening! The strategy and style of play always meant that a Bulgaria equaliser was looming. There is now speculation if, heaven’s above, Bulgaria will try and go on and win the fixture. But there’s no further scoring and the World Cup qualifier finishes: Rep.Ireland 1 Bulgaria 1.

Full Time
At the end of the match you could say Italy will have nothing to worry about. Eoin Hand angrily states that there were “no star performances” and it’s fair to assume that Ireland won’t be taking three points when we face Mr Lippi’s side in Bari next week.

Neither of the teams, tonight, could claim to be worthy of making the cut for the World Cup in South Africa. We’re simply, judging from this match, not up to qualifying. Indeed it would be unfair to the revered competition for these two sides to participate at that level. All we can do is compete. We always do things the hard way. At the end of the match all we hear on the radio is angry, argumentative Dublinese voices showing their disgust at the outcome. Can we ever transcend the depths of being second best? The ecstasy of Euro ’88 and Italia 1990 are as far away as ever.

Ronnie Whelan on RTE television says “over here in Croker you’re always gonna get chances”, in reference to the performance we have witnessed. Does he think the grass has come out to support Ireland??? One thing is certain: we’ve got to do better. Italy will surely whip us next Wednesday. The criticism levelled at this Ireland team is proper. A terrible, terrible performance.© Ian Callagy 2009