Ireland lose ground as Scotland seize the initiative

Scotland 1 Republic of Ireland 0

They call the place Paradise but for long spells there was a hint of purgatory about Celtic Park from an Irish perspective. By the end, there was a hint of hell.

Martin O’Neill had said beforehand his side would still be in the qualification hunt with key home games to come regardless of how this one finished and that much is true but Shaun Maloney’s second half goal has shifted the balance of the race in Scotland’s favour when another result might have been dealt a significant blow. Any other outcome, though, would have taken a better Irish performance for they were second best here from beginning to end and Gordon Strachan’s side were well worth their win.

The opening 10 minutes were every bit as frantic as might have been expected; what came as a surprise was that they turned out to constitute Ireland’s best spell of the half with the Scots settling better and, perhaps in part because they had to, showing by far the greater levels of ambition.

By the break, the visitors had had the game’s only two shots on target but that’s as misleading as a football statistic can be for it was the locals who should have been ahead, both for the way they held the upper hand and thee chances they created around David Forde’s goal.

It remained, for the most part, passionate but scrappy stuff, with the smarter football consistently played by Gordon Strachan’s menwhose Celtic pairing Charlie Mulgrew and Scott Brown put much of the toil that helped them to dominate midfield.

That may have been a little inevitable after Ireland’s injury difficulties this week but the ease with which the hosts ran things out wide for much of the night was more of a blow to the visitors’ cause. Aiden McGeady, whose proximity to the ball could easily have been gauged outside the ground by the loudness of the competing cheers and boos, ran at young Andrew Robertson once early on and was cleanly dispossessed. The foul that followed earned the winger a booking that was to impact on the rest of his night with his defensive contribution patchy. He did, at least start to get the occasional cross in as the second half bedded down but he never came close to hitting the heights of Georgia.

Neither the card he had received nor its colour was remotely controversial but Grant Hanley could well have been sent off early on for a trip on Shane Long when he was arguably the last man while Jeff Hendrick's yellow and the brush he had with a second for a rash challenge moments later seemed to severely impact on him. For a spell the derby midfielder looked terrified to tackle anyone which was quite a problem because a good deal of what was going on seemed to be passing Darron Gibson by with Steven Naismith positively thriving.

Scotland’s attacks had a variety that Ireland’s lacked completely with with the visitors relying for the most part on Jon Walters to bring Shane Long into things. Walters worked hard but the Southampton striker, in for Robbie Keane, still had a quiet night.

The locals, on the other hand, pressured their opponents down both sides, with Robertson more than Ikechi Anya down the left and, increasingly, Shaun Maloney on the right, posing problems, as well as through the centre.

Ireland consistently struggled to cope at times with Seamus Coleman amongst those failing to really get to grips with things. The centre backs did better for the most part but there was one spell in particular before the break when Ireland were just hanging on, hoofing the ball field in the hope of relief and the Scots threatened more than once after the break to regain that scale of superiority.

They should have led with Mulgrew heading one clearcut chance wide, Steven Fletcher failing to connect with another, but as the second half wore on there was a sense that the goal was coming and after Walters had been forced into heading just over his own bar it came, Maloney taking the corner short before the ball was fed into Brown who laid it back off to the Maloney who curled it rather sweetly inside the far post.

Ireland had four minutes less than in Germany to find a way back but the changes made shortly before the goal at least seemed to leave them in slightly better shape to change the direction of things with Stephen Quinn and Robbie Brady both on and making instant impacts before the goal. Having been dropped for a competitive game when fit for the first time in 13 years, Robbie Keane was brought on for Hendrick after it.

The Scots, though, might just have watched the Gelsenkichen game back, though, for in contrast to the Germans there was let up at all in the intensity of their approach. Ireland’s determination was clear with Richard Keogh’s and Stephen Quinn’s perhaps getting the better of them to judge by a couple of the challenges that went in.

O’Neill and his men got the same four minutes of added time here as they had against the World champions and they almost salvaged a draw in equally dramatic fashion when Brady’s lofted free from 40 metres out was turned onto his own bar by a Scottish defender. The scramble that followed was heart stopping stuff but the chance passed and the game ended with the home side still in front.

For the Scots it was a critically important victory, for the Irish a severe disappointment but still a less than fatal blow. All told, the qualification campaign looks more interesting than ever which was probably not what O’Neill had wanted out of the night.

Scotland: Marshall (Cardiff City); Whittaker (Norwich City), R Martin (Norwich City), Hanley (Blackburn Rovers) , Robertson (Hull City); Brown (Celtic), Mulgrew (Celtic); Maloney (Wigan Athletic), Naismith (Everton), Anya (Watford); S Fletcher (Sunderland). Subs: C Martin (Derby County) for Fletcher (55 mins), D Fletcher (Manchester United) for Anya (88 mins)

Ireland: Forde (Millwall); Coleman (Everton), Keogh (Derby County), O'Shea (Sunderland), Ward (Burnley); Hendrick (Derby County), Gibson (Everton); McGeady (Everton), Walters (Stoke City), McClean (Wigan Athletic); Long (Southampton). Subs: Brady (Hull City) for Long and Quinn (Hull City) for Gibson (both 69 mins), Keane (LA Galaxy) for Hendrick (78 mins).

Referee: Milorad Maži (Serbia).