Alan Foley
AFTER the Republic of Ireland’s 4-0 win at the A Le Coq Stadium in Tallinn that well rehashed list of the only certainties in life being taxes and death can add a third entry – we’re definitely on our way to the European Championships.
A generation has passed since Ray Houghton, Wim Kieft and the Neckarstadion when the gadflies were swarming and dogs howling at the moon, but the Ireland’s present has finally caught up with it’s past.
After the heartbreak of St Denis and Thierry Henry two years ago, as well as the previous painful experiences in Brussels and Bursa, drawing a team as ineffective as Estonia was a medicinal tonic. The old Cheshire cat John Delaney’s broad grin when the pairing was pulled at the draw last month in Krakow was justifiable.
Delaney has a touch of the pantomime about him, hero or villain depending on one’s stance, which was emphasised as he ran to the away section on Friday night after the players had waved their goodbyes, blew their kisses clenched their fists. It was awkward to know whether to laugh or cry at the FAI’s CEO but he probably got away with it as the spirits were up. Oh yes they were! Official estimates are unavailable but it’s said somewhere in the region of 2,500 travelled through a variety of cities to get to Tallinn, a wonderful old city of cobble-stoned streets with prices almost as low as the temperatures on the Gulf of Finland. Hence, the pun about the Baltic state carried some substance in the middle of November. There was something of a medieval feel about the place, a bit like Blackadder with pretty damsels.
In terms of tickets, demand predictably outstripped supply and while some had to be content with watching the game live on a giant television screen in the Old Town Square of the European City of Culture, there were little speckles of green throughout the Estonian sections at the stadium itself. In the Irish end there was little need for seat numbers as supporters huddled in central areas and few rested their backsides at all. As usual, to the rear of the stand, there was the unwitting queue for non-alcoholic beer.
It was one of those occasions when it seeped in, pretty quickly, that the opposition were about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Keith Andrews, who probably had his best night in a green jersey since the aforementioned debacle in Paris, headed home the opener from Aiden McGeady’s cross and the consensus at half-time was that if Ireland had the wherewithal they could essentially seal the tie there and then.
Estonia were already down to 10 by then with Andrei Stepanov having been booked twice and it would get no better for the home side. Jonathan Walters, who enjoyed a fine game up front, headed home a second before a Robbie Keane brace, which brings his cumulative international total to 53, sandwiched another sending off when Raio Piiroja was also twice cautioned. The feeling among the Estonian support was they were just glad to have got as far as they did.
Opinions on the pragmatic Giovanni Trappatoni are varied and although the Italian is on a salary considerably larger than even Delaney he is within touching distance of obtaining exactly what his brief had instructed him. There were unconfirmed whispers doing the laps that the senior players had met before the game and decided to approach the match a little more offensively than usual.
The truth in that claim is questionable but Trapattoni’s caginess has seen his Ireland team not lose an away fixture in 12 outings. Ireland’s last competitive loss on the road came the week of Stephen Ireland’s granny-gate in September 2007 in Prague.
The Irish support stayed on at A Le Coq Stadium as long as time would allow and that in itself was rewarded with the antics of Delaney. On returning to the city centre the picturesque square had beer cans and plastic bottles blowing in the night air. All the warmth and noise had crept indoors and every little corner seemed to have a little bar.
Cold as it was, though, it promises to be a much warmer summer in Poland or Ukraine, after an evening of fun and celebration at the Aviva when qualification should be rubber-stamped. And let’s face it, that’s a certainty.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/-k32jQOG21o/post.aspx
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