We were all waiting for James McClean to make his debut but it was another sub, Simon Cox, who stole the headlines in Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Czech Republic.
A fine bit of individual skill by Cox salvaged a draw for Ireland and while McLean’s performance pretty much lived up to the billing, and lifted the crowd late on, the West Brom man’s smart finish showed what a valuable player he could be off the bench this summer.
Ireland started really well, finished really well, and drifted a bit through the middle. Did we learn much? Well, the Irish fans love the Sunderland winger, Keith Andrews may be playing the best football of his career and Simon Cox is a very decent finisher. Trap will be pleased we think. He will be even happier we have stayed unbeaten.
A great start by the home side saw that rarest of things, a good Aiden McGeady cross, find the head of Shane Long but the Tipp man headed straight at Peter Cech.
Ireland’s best chance to score in the first 45 came when a super pass by Andrews, who was excellent all night in fairness to him, found Robbie Keane. A fantastic first touch by the Ireland captain set up the chance but the Galaxy man’s snapshot was well saved by Cech, and the rebound came too quickly for Robbie to react.
The rest of the half was pretty dull. The Mexican Wave made its dreaded appearance after just half an hour, a sign of what little entertainment there was on the pitch. Glenn Whelan received a nasty knock to the head that required some sideline stitches too but it really was the friendliest of friendlies, with the Irish shape never threatened.
In fact, the highlight of the night as far as the crowd was concerned, at least until late in the game, was the half-time proposal of a female fan to her fella. He said yes. Of course.
Anyway, after that excitement had died down, the game restarted and Ireland found themselves behind. For some reason, the entire Irish defence ran towards Rezek leaving Milan Baros clean through and the former Liverpool striker slipped the ball past Shay Given after 49 minutes. Trap will not have been happy with the defending and the absence of Richard Dunne was never more glaring.
The Czechs were controlled and tidy without ever looking like world beaters but we still struggled to create. It was in the 70th minute when Andrews tested Cech seriously and it was now just a case of waiting for the subs to enliven the crowd.
Paul Green and Stephen Hunt came in, as did Jon Walters and Cox and that didn’t really lift the crowd too much. But the arrival of the Sunderland winger was like 100 consents to marriage at once. He was bright, lively, good in the air and a willing runner too. He even put in a few tasty crosses.
It was good to see him do all that in green. Well, in white anyway. Did he do enough to win over Trap? Probably not but the Aviva crowd were convinced and you could argue his arrival was the catalyst for the Cox goal.
That goal, set up by more good work by Andrews, showed the good finishing instincts that Cox has and his skip away from the defender, plus nutmeg finish on Cech, was very classy indeed.
The unbeaten run now stretches to 12 games, the ability to battle back has been shown and we have lots of options off the bench. Not a bad night at all really.
By the way, our Euro 2012 opponents didn’t have a great night. Italy lost 1-0 to USA and Croatia lost 3-1 to Sweden, both at home. Just 102 days to go folks!
