Keith Duggan: Ireland must be brave enough to get on the ball

Back when Roy Keane was managing football teams full time, he casually threw out the kind of one-liners that must have made him the envy of Britain’s comedy circuit.

His observation on Nyron Nosworthy at Sunderland was one that stood out: “Now that Nos has switched to centre-back he’s got much less time on the ball, which is best for all concerned.”

It’s much the same with the Ireland team. On Saturday night in Copenhagen, there was a sense that nothing much could go wrong when the Danes had the ball. Ireland looked solid, organised and highly capable in what they were at.

But watching their periods in possession were, however brief, a bit like taking a ride in a cable car that you have heard has a rickety support structure. It made you nervous. Ireland attacks spring out of nothing, without warning and often seem to be executed at a hundred miles an hour. Everything speeds up so much you worry that someone will get hurt.

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The best Irish attack on Saturday night came courtesy of a fullback, Cyrus Christie, who out-sprinted Jens Stryger Larsen to get on to Callum O’Dowda’s nicely-weighted through ball, skipped inside him and then darted a neat effort with the outside of his right foot, which Kasper Schmeichel dealt with.

Christie comes across as what the late Brian Clough, the managerial god whose voice most probably resides deep in the minds of both Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane, would have described as “a very, very nice young man”.

Late on Saturday night, Christie reflected on the demands of stepping into the void created by the terrible injury suffered by Séamus Coleman against Wales in March. He admitted that he hasn’t been able to get forward as much as he’d like but that sometimes he feels as if he has received flak that wasn’t deserved. He pointed out that he is inexperienced at international level: he will make mistakes and learn from them.

Counter-threat

Christie’s remarks are a timely reminder that Ireland are managing the critical phase of this campaign without Coleman, the captain and one of the team’s few out-and-out ball players. Coleman is a fullback who likes to create attacks, a quality that has made him a prized commodity. His absence severely diminishes the counter-threat that other teams have to worry about along the right of the Irish team.

On the left, James McClean’s sporadic breaks for the border have the effect of dragging team and country with him and every so often, a cross comes fizzing in from that side of the pitch. But there were several instances in Copenhagen when McClean’s attempts to link up O’Dowda or Harry Arter in give-and-go passes just didn’t come off.

After it finished 0-0, word filtered through the city – as it always does – of what Eamon Dunphy, Damien Duff and Liam Brady had said about Ireland’s ambition to play ball. It’s a strange, enduring habit from the manic years of the late 1980s and 1990s that no Irish international night seems complete without some kind of final verdict issued from Montrose. Some fair points were made.

Ireland are managed by O’Neill and Keane, two iconic football figures on either side of the Border who were key figures in revered post-war England teams and managed by two of the most celebrated managers in English football history. Dunphy is right: it is, on the surface, a dismal disappointment that these two men are the guardians of an Irish football team who play with so little verve or imagination or joy when in possession.

If it’s true that O’Neill doesn’t fully trust this team to play expansive football, it often seems to show on the field in that the players don’t seem to fully trust themselves, either.

But then, there is no evidence that O’Neill – or Keane – explicitly ask the Irish players not to play ball. There is no evidence that O’Neill wouldn’t have welcomed the sight of, say, a midfield tackle on Christian Eriksen from Hendrick and a slide-rule pass from Arter followed by a nimble, first-time finish by Daryl Murphy.

Sat back

The Ireland team either weren’t able or weren’t that interested in getting on the ball very often against Denmark. Mostly, they sat back.

It was significant that back in studio, Duff noted: “We’ve done that since I was a player.” That may not be entirely true: Irish teams showed an appetite for trying to pass their way through opposition teams under Mick McCarthy and Brian Kerr. But they were also deeply unfortunate to miss out on major tournaments in that time.

When was the last truly magisterial Irish football performance? Against Holland at Lansdowne Road in 2001? Italy in Giants stadium in 1994? Or the pair of pretournament friendly games earlier that summer when Ireland visited Holland and Germany and outshone their gilded hosts with the quality of their football?

O’Neill probably doesn’t have to go into the fine print of his contract to learn that his primary obligation is to get this Ireland team to major tournaments. He has never defended the collective pedigree as ball players very strenuously, preferring instead to highlight the more obvious qualities like courage and industry. His competitive record – just five losses and 12 wins and 10 draws is formidable. It has rarely been beautiful to watch but it is productive.

Tonight is the rare occasion when a draw is no good, when Ireland must be brave enough to play as well as simply be brave. And it’s a double-edged sword because if Ireland try to play and then lose to a nation with marginally better players, it will deepen the belief that Ireland are better off leaving the trying-to-play business to the others. If they don’t try and play and still lose in one of those stultifying 1-0 winter slogs, then the huge effort – from team and fans alike – will feel hollow and empty.

The result dictates the perception. If Ireland win then by midnight tonight, Dublin city will be in party mode, even if the people have just watched 120 minutes of scoreless awfulness followed by a 2-1 win on penalties.

Getting there is O’Neill’s task. He’s smart as a fox. David Meyler will return and Wes Hoolahan will come in to add the missing dash of guile and high-wire composure and don’t be surprised if Ireland do enough to scrape through.

The win will vindicate the method. If O’Neill can show that it ain’t broke, then why should he try to fix it?