Ireland 1 - 0 Slovakia

Now that was more like it. A spirited performance, especially in the first half, when Ireland got the ball down, under control and attacked.

Doyle, Duff and Ireland were all excellent and Dunne, McShane and Given were rock solid. The rest were so-so (except for O'Shea, I mean - can anyone tell me what he actually does?). Hunt always looks enthusiastic and energetic, and despite coming across a bit brainless, he beats players and gets crosses in. Finnan was playing left-back again, which doesn't suit him, although he played fairly well.

As so often happens when a manager doesn't have confidence in himself (or his team), 1-0 at HT seems like a good result, and they instruct the team to defend deep for the next 45 mins. As expected, this lead to a nervous end to the match that could have finished in disaster, but for a very good stop by Given.

Still, 3 points and all that shite.

HT analysis from Brady, Giles and Dunphy was as enlightening as ever, with Giles confusing the crap out of O'Herlihilihy talking about how "goalkeepers" can be selfish or not look up in front of goal (he was talking about Doyle not giving the ball to Duff when he was in a better position). I think Giles is going a bit soft in his old age, either that or he's doing his best impression of Big Jack "Er, whatsisname?" Charlton and Sir Bobby "I used to manage Porto when they were the biggest club in Spain" Robson.

European Championship Qualifying : Group D Table

28 March 2007 22:01

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Germany	5	4	1	0	21	3	18	13
2	Czech Republic	6	4	1	1	15	4	11	13
3	Rep of Ireland	7	4	1	2	12	8	4	13
4	Slovakia	6	3	0	3	15	11	4	9
5	Wales	5	2	0	3	8	9	-1	6
6	Cyprus	6	1	1	4	9	16	-7	4
7	San Marino	5	0	0	5	1	30	-29	0

Look at how Northern Ireland are doing! The world has clearly gone mad...

European Championship Qualifying : Group F Table

28 March 2007 22:58

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Northern Ireland	6	4	1	1	10	7	3	13
2	Sweden	5	4	0	1	9	4	5	12
3	Spain	5	3	0	2	9	6	3	9
4	Denmark	4	2	1	1	7	2	5	7
5	Latvia	4	1	0	3	4	3	1	3
6	Liechtenstein	5	1	0	4	3	15	-12	3
7	Iceland	5	1	0	4	4	9	-5	3