Lille: It felt like the Republic of Ireland were only just coming to terms with the reality that not every Euro 2016 fairy tale can come true for every nation that craves its moment of joy when Robbie Brady interrupted with a winning goal that no one who was there will ever forget. Brady’s header, five minutes from time, sends Ireland into the second round to face the hosts France, and it gives Martin O’Neill’s generation of players a night to compare with those years when the Irish did this kind of thing on a regular basis.
Ireland beat a great Italy team in the World Cup finals of 1994 and 22 years later they beat one of much inferior vintage, but you suspect this win will mean no less for a new generation and a new era. They will play France in the second round in Lyon on Sunday, a remarkable achievement. They were denied a penalty for James McClean in the first half but it was the miss from the substitute Wes Hoolahan just minutes before Brady’s winner that felt like the moment the Irish were out of the European championships. Then suddenly just minutes later, Hoolahan crossed from the right, a perfect ball for the perfect night, and Brady powered in to head the ball past Salvatore Sirigu. By the end of the game even Roy Keane was on his feet in the technical area and then at the end shaking hands and hugging players.
Forecast
From Martin O’Neill, a changed team that said the Ireland manager was banking on the young men in his squad to run the game under the closed roof in Lille amid the oppressive heat of a French evening and on a pitch that could not withstand the forecast thunder storms. Out went the thirtysomethings Hoolahan, John O’Shea and Glenn Whelan to be replaced by a younger generation including Shane Duffy, Richard Keogh and McClean. O’Neill is a manager who is limited in his resources but he is prepared to use all of them and nothing says to a group of players that the manager wants them to be bold than a bold selection. Antonio Conte made eight changes to his side but retained Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli in that distinctive three-man defence that has given his side such a solid base in their two previous wins.
Conte’s team also struggled to raise the intensity but then they did not need the goal like Ireland did. Aidan McGeady, on for Daryl Murphy, another addition, for the last 20 minutes, was an attempt to add something new that might stretch the Italians in another way as the game headed for a glorious conclusion. It was Hoolahan who made a difference, seizing on the ball for his chance and then recovering to create the goal for Brady that changed everything.
