Martin O’Neill hopes for spark of creativity to bolster set-piece threat

Martin O’Neill expressed the hope that the Republic of Ireland’s opening game against Sweden at the European championships will be defined by moments of creativity as much as set-pieces.

Ireland’s opening goal against the Netherlands on Friday night came courtesy of a well-executed set-piece but in anticipating Ireland’s crucial opener against the Swedes in Paris on June 13th, O’Neill hinted at how he saw things unfolding.

“I am hoping it doesn’t boil down to a set-piece game. You would be hoping that someone with a bit of talent would go past a few players. You have a very good player who can do that.

“I think that great players have ways of extricating themselves from situations if they are very tightly marked. [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic is one of those. We have to be careful. We have a number of very fine players on our team who on the day will have to be really ready for the match. But we are looking forward to it just as Sweden are looking forward to playing us.”

The Netherlands’ illustrious history in the international game was summed up neatly in an orange sign last night which wished the Irish team luck while stressing that the Dutch will be staying at home this summer.

The traumatic and winless experience of Ireland’s last major tournament adventure is sufficiently recent to remain fresh in the memory. O’Neill is adamant that his squad must believe they can compete against teams from bigger football nations.

Belief and confidence

“We have to. It has to be our mindset. We have to go in to those games thinking that we can compete. Otherwise we might as well stay home. I know it doesn’t last forever but if you can’t take some belief and confidence in beating Germany here, then I don’t think you ever will.

“I can’t predict anything out there than us putting our heart and souls into the game. You could see the quality in the Dutch side. They haven’t made it, which is a surprise to everyone in Europe. But they do have quality and we have to play against that, if that’s the case.”

There is no question that there is a strong vein of confidence surging through the Irish right now, embodied by the vital and gleeful performances of Shane Long.

But there were signs in Dublin that O’Neill was scouting for something – and someone – different as he prepares for the tournament.

As he went through the check list of names, it was clear how rapidly the stock of some players have risen over the campaign. Shane Duffy again looked at home at centre-back last night and received a strong endorsement from O’Neill.

“I wouldn’t be afraid,” he said of the Blackburn defender’s relative inexperience.

“His performances . . . I felt he did very well in March in the Swiss game and again, another fantastic performance considering he hasn’t a lot of international experience.

“He has come on leaps and bounds from the time we took him to America . . . I think he was on loan at Yeovil from Everton. He has gone on to Blackburn and is playing most weeks, which is beneficial to him. And I thought he did very well.”

Fingers of blame

Duffy was arguably the man who drew most fingers of blame for the Dutch goal but O’Neill was not that concerned.

“I saw it . . . Darren Randolph, who pulled one out of the sky about 10 minutes before that and has done very well and maybe in hindsight shouldn’t have come for it. It was a great delivery . . . put it between the centre backs. And these things you learn. Maybe it is better it was scored in a friendly match than in a couple of weeks time.”

He also had encouraging words for Harry Arter, who was announced as the man of the match shortly before full-time. O’Neill wasn’t surprised to see Arter picking up a yellow late in the first half.

“I understand that the players want to put on a performance. He is tenacious at Bournemouth; he is known for that anyway so that doesn’t surprise me. Same with Quinny (Stephen Quinn). I was pleased for them. He has had a tough year because of injury. He has just got back to play. I think we will see the best of Harry and I am hoping he will be around this team for some time to come.”

Whether that means in future campaigns or in future weeks remains to be seen. Robbie Keane will play against Belarus in Cork, as will Daryl Murphy. A sleepless few nights for the new contenders and maybe for O’Neill, too, as he sits down to finalise his list.

“There are going to be some dilemmas,” he predicted.