On Thursday, Ireland defeated Portugal in the World Cup Qualifiers 2-0.
If Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch wants to make another go at getting elected as a TD, he might want to get Troy Parrot over from hanging out with the Kinahan’s to his lot. If Ireland can get a result in Budapest next time out, this will perhaps be our most memorable result since Shane Long shot past Manuel Neuer to put us on the path to Euro 2016, as well as the best night of Hallgrimson’s, and many of his player’s, international careers.
To Parrot’s great credit, it’s not just the quality of his goals that stood out. His first, a smart conversion after Liam Scales headed a corner back across the box, was the result of his pressing of Diogo Costa winning the set play. It’s this kind of proactiveness and aggression that has been lacking in Parrot’s displays up until this point; his talent, as seen in his excellent second goal, is not in doubt, yet such a change in his attitude may see him become an important player for this team yet.
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Credit also to Hallgrimson that he heeded the criticism of Ireland’s past round of performances in his tactics. Ireland displayed the kind of defensive and mental resilience that had been sorely missing, frustrating Portugal rather than trying to take them on directly. It was a particular pleasure to watch Seamus Coleman, captain in every sense except for carrying the armband, marshal the backline as they camped outside the box, inviting Portugal to create a goal that failed to materialize.
Ronaldo’s sending off seems set to dominate international coverage of the fixture, but the boys can take this as a credit to their collective fortitude that they elicited such petulance from the Portuguese captain (admittedly, it doesn’t take much to get Ronaldo acting in such a way). Yet, the tactics betray a weakness in the opposition we should have been better prepared to attack in Lisbon; Portugal, when faced with this sort of low block, are a beatable team. While solid defensively and boasting plenty of quality in midfield, they lack the necessary incisiveness in attack to break opposition down when space is not made open to them.
Hopefully this will embolden Ireland when we play Hungary in the match that will determine our presence in the U.S next summer. While this night will live long in the memory of Irish supporters, it will be all the sweeter if we attack the match on Sunday with similar verve. Our fate is back in our hands; after the doom and gloom of the past few fixtures, we can now await the visit to Hungary, and Ronaldo’s next interview with Piers Morgan, with some sort of excitement.