Ireland 1 Norway 2: How the Irish players rated

1 Gavin Bazunu (Southampton)

Struggled with his distribution at times, midway through the first half gifted Norway a goal chance with a mislaid pass and soon after he blazed another clearance out over the sideline. Made a couple of decent saves early in the second half, but ones he would have been expected to make. Rating: 5

12 Nathan Collins (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Wasn’t able to influence the game like he might have wanted and failed to properly deal with Martin Odegaard’s free late on, his misplaced header was pounced upon by Ohi Omoijuanfo to score the winner for Norway. Rating: 5

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5 John Egan (Sheffield United)

The captain lost Leo Ostigard for Norway’s opening goal just before half-time. The Napoli player was able to race out in front of Egan, who might feel he was blocked, to meet the incoming corner with a fine header. Rating: 5

[ Ireland show little fire as Ohi Omoijuanfo’s late goal secures victory for Norway ]

4 Dara O’Shea (West Bromwich Albion)

Was commanding in the air when he needed to be, rarely looked flustered and was the best of Ireland’s back three. He was composed in possession, constantly organising the defence and trying to get Ireland on the front foot when possible. Rating: 6

3 Matt Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur)

Displayed admirable bravery in daring to be the only outfield Irish player willing to accept it was pretty cold at the Aviva by going for a long sleeves and black gloves combo. Didn’t contribute enough going forward in the first half but was much better in the second. Rating: 6

15 Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion)

The West Brom man looked to get involved throughout and got himself in a nice attacking position early in the second half, earning a free from which Callum Robinson’s subsequent effort smacked off the wall. But wasn’t influential for long enough. Rating: 6

[ Ireland 1 Norway 2: As it happened ]

6 Josh Cullen (Burnley)

In the week he was named senior player of the year, Cullen was again composed and industrious in the middle of the field. Very much the conductor of the orchestra at midfield, rarely did anything too adventurous but he did open up after the break and delivered some nice diagonal passes. Rating: 7

8 Alan Browne (Preston North End)

Browne started the second half like a man who had hoovered up all the Jaffa Cakes during the break. He got himself in the box for three goal chances on the restart and in the 69th minute he lifted the stadium with a sweetly struck right-footed shot from outside of the box that fizzed beyond Orjan Nyland. Rating: 7

17 Callum O’Dowda (Cardiff City)

O’Dowda was busy down the left flank and caused the Norwegians problems, although his end-product wasn’t always on the money he did look the most likely player to create something for Ireland. Norway did figure out he always wanted to get on his left foot. Rating: 7

9 Michael Obafemi (Swansea City)

Struggled to get himself in the game and gave away possession with a couple of heavy touches early in the first half. Like many of the Ireland players, he was brighter at the start of the second half but overall he wasn’t enough of a threat. Rating: 4

7 Callum Robinson (Cardiff City)

Robinson had Ireland’s first chance of the game, but his left-footed effort from outside the box fizzed high and wide. He was a better option at holding possession up front than Obafemi and caused the defence worries with his darting runs during the second half. Rating: 6

Substitutes

10 Robbie Brady (Preston North End)

Brady tried to thread some passing plays together when he came in but the Preston man was unable to create any momentum for Ireland. He came in just as Ireland’s best period of the match was coming to an end. Rating: 5

20 Chiedozie Ogbene (Rotherham United)

Only on the field for a little over quarter of an hour, but he was busy and looked to create openings. The Rotherham man didn’t get a huge amount of supply to carry an attacking threat and he will hope for more game-time in Malta. Rating: 5

13 Jeff Hendrick (Reading)

Hendrick was on the pitch for a little over 10 minutes but he was unable to get on the ball. Norway had started to take control of the game again in the final quarter and with Ireland’s midfield struggling to get possession, Hendrick didn’t really feature. Rating: 5

24 Evan Ferguson (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Brought on in the closing minutes for his international debut at just 18 years of age, Ferguson didn’t get a Hollywood debut but his arrival on the pitch was greeted by hopeful enthusiasm for the future by the crowd in the Aviva. He might get more action in Malta on Sunday. Rating: 5

Manager: Stephen Kenny

Ireland carried little threat in the first half and at half-time if anything it felt like Norway were more likely to add to their tally than Ireland were to score. But Kenny, to be fair, stuck by his starting 11 and they responded to his show of faith by delivering a much better performance after the break. But as Norway got back on top in the last quarter, Ireland didn’t have any response. Rating: 5