Irish Settle for Away Point

Montenegro 0 Ireland 0

MONTENEGRO belied their lowly standing as sixth seed in Group Eight by holding Ireland to a scoreless draw in Podgorica in this World Cup qualifier last Wednesday.

The home side had been unlucky to concede a late equalizer to Bulgaria four days earlier, and after the fixture Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni declared himself satisfied to emerge with four points from two games on the road.

There were positives to be taken from the Irish performance, but this was a low-key encounter in which neither team had the resolve or creativity to force a goal.

Richard Dunne and John O'Shea were very solid at the center of Ireland's defense and O'Shea, who made a vital block on Jovetic after Kevin Kilbane was dispossessed, produced one of his best international displays.

Played in 33 degrees, the Montenegrans were better equipped to deal with the heat but Trapattoni's side competed very well without opening up the opposition.

Steven Reid was unable to make the impact he made against Georgia, and Glenn Whelan got through a ton of defensive midfield work. Outside them Stephen Hunt and Aidan McGeady offered some width and covered back resolutely but rarely beat the cover to stretch the home defense.

This left Robbie Keane and the industrious Kevin Doyle living off scraps up front, but Ireland's set-pieces were wasted with poor deliveries from Hunt, McGeady and Reid.

Dunne and O'Shea were able to deal with lone striker Mirko Vucinic, and most of Montenegro's offensive threat came through midfield. Whelan got involved in breaking up attacks, but with Reid carrying an injury from Saturday Ireland needed someone to hold the ball and link with the outside men and forwards.

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Nster.com