Ireland 0 North Macedonia 0
Malachy Clerkin’s Séamus Coleman piece
Ireland: Kelleher (Travers 61); Coleman (Abankwah 61) (Browne 84), Egan (O’Brien 72), Collins (capt), O’Shea, Scales; Molumby (Lawal 61), Knight; Azaz (Vale 61), Ogbene (Kenny 84), Parrott (Idah 72)
North Macedonia: Dimitrievski; Zajkov, Velkovski, Fetai; Churlinov, Kostadinov, Alimi, Herera; Bardhi (capt), Elmas, Rastoder
So it’s Turkey, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sweden that make the World Cup. Italy, Denmark, Poland and Kosovo miss out. Great drama and serious jeopardy that will actually be missing for a lot of the early stages of the World Cup.
Anyway that’s all from me for tonight, good night!
Bosnia and Herzegovina have beaten Italy on penalties! Italy fail to make the World Cup for the third time in a row.
Czech Republic win 3-1 on penalties! The Czechs are through to the World Cup.
Hojlund hits the crossbar with Denmark’s first penalty, early lead for Denmark.
It’s penalties again in Prague in the match that could have been for Ireland between Czech Republic and Denmark.
Here is the match report from Gavin Cummiskey:
Goal for Denmark! They score from a corner, Hogh with a superb header into the corner, an inspired sub.
Czech Republic 2 Denmark 2
Goal for Czech Republic! Their captain Krejci with a massive moment again in Prague, he puts them ahead.
Czech Republic 2 Denmark 1
In the World Cup playoffs:
Kosovo 0 Turkey 1
Sweden 3 Poland 2 - Gyokeres with a late winner there.
In extra-time:
Czech Republic 1 Denmark 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 Italy 1
Troy Parrott on RTÉ: “I put some of the blame on myself for not winning, I wasn’t good enough in front of goal today. For the second goal, no VAR the one I actually do score. That’s the most important thing, to see so many here for a friendly on a Tuesday night, it really warms my heart. We did our best, we came together as a country, with the fans, we’ve got a lot more to play, we’re going to come back again. To see so many kids with my name, it’s a dream come true. We’re all pushing in the same direction, I’m sure we will be back.
“Tonight I don’t think the award should be mine, but I accept it.”
97 mins: Best chance of the game! Idah does brilliantly, backheeling on the sideline and fooling everyone and Kenny is straight in front of the keeper and hits it straight at him, poor finish.
One last chance as Vale wins a corner. O’Shea header back to Idah, who heads it over.
Full-time: Ireland 0 North Macedonia 0
Not the best game, Ireland deserved to win it and didn’t play too badly considering the circumstances, although they will be disappointed not to get the win as North Macedonia were somewhat going through the motions, using almost their entire subs bench.
94 mins: Seven minutes stoppage time. A mistake by Browne leads to a dangerous counter by North Macedonia. Last man back Knight does very well to hold up the opposition and win a free-kick in the box. Free-kick for Ireland in a dangerous area after a nasty foul on Kenny. Against the wall from the free.
89 mins: Very high boot by Scales, might have been looking at a red card or yellow at least, if it wasn’t in the dying moments of a friendly.
Bosnia have scored against Italy, Tabakovic with the goal, wow. Could Italy fail to qualify again?
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 Italy 1
87 mins: Chance for North Macedonia, Herera put in a terrific ball and O’Shea just enough to hold off Ristovski.
84 mins: Lawal shows a sharp touch again, Idah does poorly and doesn’t connect with Vale.
A nasty collision between Abankwah and Herera causes a stoppage. Sadly Abankwah is hobbling off on his debut, which you don’t like to see.
Two more subs - Alan Browne and Johnny Kenny on for Abankwah and Ogbene.
78 mins: O’Shea with a fine ball to Idah in behind but everything too slow to make a chance out of it, and ends up all the way back to O’Shea again.
72 mins: Jake O’Brien is on for John Egan. Adam Idah comes on for Troy Parrott, no goal sadly for Parrott to keep the run going.
Goal for Denmark, Joachim Andersen makes it 1-1 in Prague, the Fulham player making it interesting!
Kosovo 0-1 Turkey (Akturkoglu 53). The Turks take the lead and are heading to the World Cup as it stands.
68 mins: Sub Stankovski does well to win a free-kick but it was a shocking free then and Ireland had a chance to counter. Beautiful turn around the defender by Lawal but then make the wrong decision for the final ball.
Tonight’s attendance is 39,560, according to the announcer.
65 mins: Ogbene does very well twisting and turning to win corner. Vale on corners and it’s a good first one, keeper just punches away then puts in the mixer again, but North Macedonia survive. They’ve made some seven or eight changes themselves, I’ll leave you to the Uefa website if you want to see each one of those.
61 mins: Quick corner taken and they work it to Knight, who takes a shot just outside the box and deflected wide.
Irish subs: Vale on for Azaz, Travers on for Kelleher, Coleman on for Abankwah, Lawal on for Molumby.
Meanwhile in World Cup playoffs it’s Sweden 2 Poland 2 - Swiderski takes advantage of a defensive mistake.
58 mins: Again Azaz finds Parrott with a little pass, and Parrott is just tackled before he can get a shot away. Subs are being prepared.
56 mins: Chance for Azaz, who has had a good start to this half, has the confidence to take on a shot from outside the box and curls it just wide.
54 mins: Off the post! Just won’t go in for Parrott, great play by Azaz, composed on the ball, finds Coleman who gives it back to him and then first touch pass finds Parrott who smashes it against the cross after a fine shot.
51 mins: Ireland have the ball around the box for almost a minute, trying to find a way through a cramped North Macedonian defence, Parrott and Azaz in particular, but can’t find a way to get a shot away.
48 mins: Surprisingly no subs for Ireland at half-time. A few big hits on Irish players as the North Macedonians raise the physicality, Ogbene and Knight suffering.
Elsewhere in the World Cup playoff finals, Zalewski equalised for the Poles against Sweden with a low curler but Sweden go back in front on the brink of half-time as Lagerbielke rose to head home.
Sweden 2 Poland 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 Italy 1
Czech Republic 1 Denmark 0
Kosovo 0 Turkey 0
Goal disallowed for Parrott! Been an eventful few minutes for Ireland’s star striker and he could have been onside there but there’s no VAR tonight. Linesman gives offside, but it was a lovely finish by Parrott with a little dink over the keeper. Shame.
Half-time: Ireland 0 North Macedonia 0
A fairly drab game came to a bit of life in the latter stages with some good pieces of play by Ireland but couldn’t get the goal.
44 mins: Parrott is back walking, albeit a little gingerly and is back on the pitch. Ogbene does well to get it to Coleman and then Azaz to Coleman again. Parrott was offside, but he hits a brilliant lob over the keeper and laughs, was never going to count but worth the practice anyway.
41 mins: Best chance of the match for Parrott! Azaz with a ball in behind and Parrott competes with Velkovski who makes a mess of it, Parrott has a clear shot but he kicks it well wide.
Then a few moments later he has another chance but unfortunately a strong tackle from the North Macedonian defender Fetai sees Parrott holding his knee. Oh dear.
37 mins: Nice pass by Molumby into Coleman in the box and he was hoping to get it to Parrott but cut out. Then a half-chance for Parrott, great through ball by Knight, Parrott turns past two players and then swipes well wide unfortunately.
34 mins: Hopeful ball by Knight in the air was taken down brilliantly by Ogbene who made an opportunity out of nothing and nearly got the better of the defender but out for a corner. Azaz’s corner goes back post to Scales but nothing comes of it.
Goal for Sweden! Elanga puts the Swedes a goal up against Poland, 1-0.
Czech Republic 1 Denmark 0
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 Italy 1
Sweden 1 Poland 0
Kosovo 0 Turkey 0
27 mins: Should have been a penalty? Chance for Ireland as Ogbene picks the ball up from a mistake on possession, Azaz takes the ball brilliantly and dribbles past a few players and then gets taken out of it inside the box it seems, but the referee ruled it was outside. Azaz’s free-kick is well over, he’ll be disappointed with that.
24 mins: O’Shea wins the ball in midfield and Azaz and Parrott start the counter but a bit too slow and everyone gets back. Eventually Egan plays a cross and Parrott heads from the edge of the box, too far out though and the keeper saved it fairly handily.
21 mins: Ogbene gives away a clumsy foul on Herera just outside his own box. Bardhi takes it and deflected, Kelleher has to make a comfortable save, but out for a corner. From the corner, Bardhi tries a volley from outside the box but hits it way over.
17 mins: Ogbene has a shot on goal after another nice pass by O’Shea, Coleman competes for it and comes down to Ogbene, whose shot is blocked. Parrott is struggling to get in the game and often being double marked.
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 Italy 1 - Moise Kean gives Italy the lead!
14 mins: Some sideways passing by Ireland for a few minutes before Collins plays a long ball to Coleman, and it shows how quiet it is in the stadium that you can hear Coleman’s complaints clearly about his team’s lethargy when taking a throw-in.
11 mins: Nice interplay between Ogbene and Coleman but Ogbene’s cross is blocked out for a corner. Corner goes to the back post and O’Shea puts in a teasing cross to the back post, which Egan can’t control with the header and it goes wide.
Czech Republic lead 1-0 against Denmark!
Sulc, who was threatening against Ireland, gets an early goal in Prague against the Danes.
5 mins: Molumby plays a ball in behind on the wing, but the cross is blocked. Ireland with plenty of possession early doors, but no chances yet. Crowd is dead so far, understandably.
2 mins: Scales with an early cross is headed away as Ireland start positively. Dara O’Shea then plays a long ball over the top to Ogbene but collected by the goalkeeper.
The teams are out for the national anthems. A fairly deflated atmosphere and some empty seats as expected.
Will it be Coleman’s final Ireland game tonight?
Here’s Hallgrímsson before the game:
Mary Hannigan has five reason why you should attend this match (we’d hope you’ve made this decision by now!) which also applies to watching it:
1 If you’re so dejected after last Thursday that you never want to see a football game again, imagine how the players feel. You can be sure both the Irish and North Macedonia squads and their management would prefer to undergo a colonic irrigation procedure than fulfil this fixture. So, show some solidarity: turn up. Remember, when you gave your heart to Ireland, you vowed to have and to hold them from that day forward, for better or for worse. This is a measure of your loyalty. If you don’t turn up, you’ll have had a North Macedonia.
2 As Heimir Hallgrímsson said on Saturday of this game, “it’s a bit like being involved in a car crash – the best thing is to start driving again”. That is sound advice. So dust yourself down and get back on the horse.
3 It is said by people who know these things that Dursey Island off the Beara Peninsula in Cork is the farthest point from the Aviva Stadium in Ireland (330km). If that sounds like a bit a haul if you live there and have a ticket for the game, spare a thought for North Macedonia – Skopje is 3,067km from Dublin and, unless they have a direct charter flight, it could take the squad anything up to six hours to get here. If they can make that effort, so can you.
4 Fitness permitting, Séamus Coleman might be making his final appearance for Ireland. Might is the key word here. Hallgrímsson has said he hopes the Donegal man will stay on for the Euro 2028 campaign. That seems a bit unlikely, though, not least because his Everton contract is up at the end of the season. So, on the off chance that this will indeed be his last hurrah in an Irish shirt, the very least he deserves is a sizeable crowd to applaud him off the pitch and thank him for everything. He did the State some service, that lad.
5 What else would you be doing on a Tuesday night?
The teams are out:
Ireland: Kelleher; Coleman, Egan, Collins (capt), O’Shea, Scales; Molumby, Knight; Azaz, Ogbene, Parrott
North Macedonia: Dimitrievski; Zajkov, Velkovski, Fetai; Churlinov, Kostadinov, Alimi, Herera; Bardhi (capt), Elmas, Rastoder
We will also keep an eye on the more competitive games in Europe tonight, the World Cup playoff finals, including Czech Republic against Denmark. They all kick off at 7.45pm too.
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy (Zenica)
Sweden v Poland (Solna)
Kosovo v Türkiye (Pristina)
Czech Republic v Denmark (Prague)
Meanwhile, Ireland under-21s have scored a late winner to beat Kazakhstan away from home, Oisin Gallagher scoring in the 89th minute to win 1-0.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Republic of Ireland’s friendly game against North Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium, kick-off is at 7.45pm. Let’s face it, this is not the game we wanted to see, we wanted a packed stadium to play Denmark in a playoff final for the World Cup. Ireland gave up a 2-0 lead in Prague against the Czech Republic, lost on penalties and the rest is history. Instead, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side play North Macedonia in a friendly.
It is not the easiest game ever to hype up, but there is a certain intrigue to it, if Ireland can keep up their overall good recent form under Hallgrímsson (unbeaten in the past four games) when the pressure is off, and if it is to be Coleman’s final game in an Irish shirt, many will want to pay tribute to one of Ireland’s greatest full-backs. Some fringe players may get a run out as they build towards having a strong Nations League campaign in the autumn.
