Republic of Ireland beat Wales in Nations Cup opener
Republic of Ireland defeated Wales 3-0 in the opener of the Nations Cup. The win came in front of the home fans at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Tuesday, the 8th of February. The match marked the start of the Nations
Cup, which is a tournament comprising 4 teams namely Republic of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Three second-half goals from Darren Gibson, Damien Duff and Keith Fahey handed the home side victory.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland lost to Russia and Norway at home and drew to Slovakia away in their last three fixtures which summed up a recent run of poor form. The Irish were without their influential captain and
top goal scorer Robbie Keane, who was out injured after picking a calf injury for West Ham in the match against Birmingham. Everton’s Seamus Coleman and Aston Villa’s Ciaran Clark made their international debuts. Jonathan Walters came in for Robbie Keane and
started up front alongside Kevin Doyle.
Gary Speed took over from John Toshak, who resigned from his post in September 2010. The Wales team has been struggling recently with 4 losses in 5 matches including 3 in the last 3. Gary Speed had a depleted squad to pick from
for his debut as manager of the national team as most of the players withdrew due to injury. The most notable being Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey, who picked up an injury playing for Cardiff City against Swansea. Gareth Bale was also out with a back injury.
Republic of Ireland dominated right from the start as expected. They could have been ahead only 4 minutes in to the match when Damien Duff’s shot from the left went inches wide of the post. The visitors got themselves back in the
match with some good spell of possession and wide runs from Neal Eardley was providing some threat to the home-side. Nevertheless, it was a bore first half which didn’t create any clear cut scoring opportunity and it was 0-0 at the interval.
Kevin Doyle was replaced by Shane Long at half-time. The substitute missed a glorious opportunity to put Ireland ahead when Duff’s brilliant pass found him but the Reading man’s shot went well over the bar. Darren Gibson broke
the deadlock in the 60th minute with a thunder strike from 25 yards out with a cracker. The goal put the visitors well on the back foot and the home side doubled their lead just 6 minutes later through Fulham man Damien Duff. It was good play from
Walters from the left before passing it to Duff in front of goal and he ex-Chelsea winger had no problems putting it into the net. The match was sealed just 8 minutes from full-time after Keith Fahey’s free kick from outside the box. Wayne Hennessey was definitely
at fault and misjudged the ball completely. Ireland finished 3-0 at full-time.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s side had put in a superb performance spoiling Gary Speed’s debut as manager. Republic of Ireland next take on Northern Ireland in the Nations Cup on the 24th of May while Wales play Scotland next
on the 25th of May.
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