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Sports Central by Cian Fahey

Republic of Ireland 2-1 Macedonia

Posted on Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 03:34 PM
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A goal after 86 seconds from Aiden McGeady set Ireland on their way early. McGeady was fed by Kevin Doyle, who later went off with what appears to be a serious knee injury, before cutting inside and beating the goalkeeper at the near post.

The goalkeeper looked unconvincing throughout the game and Ireland had obviously been encouraged to shoot on sight as they took every opportunity to do so.

Irish fans didn't have to wait for long before the lead was doubled. A Darron Gibson freekick once more exposed the frailties of the Macedonian goalkeeper who fumbled the ball within his six yard box. Like all international strikers should do, Robbie Keane followed in the freekick and tapped home the rebound in front of the diving goalkeeper.

Ireland were cruising at this stage as the Macedonians looked to have little interest.

Both sides played out a drab first half until Goran Pandev turned Richard Dunne inside the Irish half and placed the ball past Kieran Westwood in the far corner.

This made for a nervous second half when Macedonia the much better of the chances. Westwood was on hand on numerous occasions to prevent the Macedonians from stealing a point from the Aviva Stadium.

Notes:
Kevin Doyle has already been ruled out of Tuesday's friendly with Uruguay.

Richard Dunne was booked and will receive a one game suspension for the next qualifier.

James McCarthy made his first competitive appearance, coming on late for Robbie Keane, for Ireland meaning that he can no longer play for Scotland.

Robbie Keane equaled Andy Townsend captaining Ireland for the 40th time.



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5 comments

Page 1 of 1 pages
Fightin69th | Mar 28, 2011, 01:15 PM EDT
Ireland always play with fire for the first 15-20 minutes, then get in a lull for the next 15 minutes or so. God forbid if they ever went up 3-0 on someone. We can b!tch & moan all we want about the game, but it is the result that matters. If you woke up the following day and saw that Ireland won 2-1, things would be grand......but as things go, the future looks good. Westwood looked comfortable in goal, O'Dea held his own in the center of the Defence, Shane Long is a firecracker up front, that fella should of been sent off for the studs in Longs face. Keep the Faith in the Lads!!!

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dublinguy | Mar 27, 2011, 01:22 PM EDT
as usual we dont have the killer Instinct to finish off the opposition, if we did we would have qualified for the last world cup.

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carrickcourt | Mar 27, 2011, 11:08 AM EDT
Good for Ireland. Good for the USA against Argentina, 1-1, thanks to Irish-Americans.

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Newrone | Mar 27, 2011, 09:29 AM EDT
Yeah, & maybe let Duff & McGeady swap sides from time to time. Duff will never be comfortable on his right foot.

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jacersagain | Mar 26, 2011, 07:41 PM EDT
We wuz flippin' lucky to win this game! Kudos to Westwood for saving our skins and to Damien Duff and McGeady - both played blinders. I think Trapp should drop Keane back into an attacking midfield role and put tall guys up front to knock back balls and feed him to strike from outside the box.

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