SOCCER: Rep of Ireland 2 Macedonia 1SOMETIMES IT seems Giovanni Trapattoni genuinely can't fathom what all the fuss is about. On Saturday the Italian got word that the Russians had dropped a valuable two points before going out to oversee a victory that earned the Irish a share of a three-way tie at the top of their Euro 2012 qualification group. Throw in the resolution of James McCarthy's international future and the Italian clearly felt he had some basis for regarding it all as a good day's work and there was hint of exasperation about him as it became clear that not everyone saw it the same way.
The importance of taking all three points on Saturday against a side ranked well below the Republic of Ireland in the international game’s pecking order was, of course, universally appreciated.
What divided both the press and supporters, it seemed, was the patchiness of the performance, with the home side again threatening briefly to comfortably put away weaker opponents only to do every bit as much as the Macedonians to make it a nail-biting night in the end.
Had Trapattoni’s troops successfully defended their leads in the last campaign they, rather than Italy, would have gone to South Africa and having also let a promising position slip in Slovakia back in October their reputation might just precede them at this stage.
Certainly, Macedonia, who had not beaten anyone more menacing than Andorra away in a competitive game during the last five years, never gave up believing that they could get something out of this game despite effectively having handed their hosts a two-goal start early on.
And but for a decent Keiren Westwood stop 15 minutes from time, their faith might well have been rewarded.
Ireland, on balance, did do enough to merit their win, but for the best part of half an hour this looked nothing like the contest that Trapattoni had been anticipating on Friday when he had spoken of players like Aiden McGeady and Darron Gibson shooting at every opportunity through the massed ranks of Macedonians defenders.
For a while during the early and middle stages of the second half it was the home side who found themselves defending desperately deep under pressure.
Their own confidence had clearly been dented by a goal conceded just before the break and it wasn’t until late on, when the game became very open, that they looked the more likely to score.
Then, as he had been very early on, Aiden McGeady was the home side’s main threat with the Spartak Moscow winger beating opponents to get crosses into the box with far more consistency than Damien Duff on the other flank where a steady stream of free kicks made up the bulk of the Dubliner’s end product.
Almost before he had got into the stride of his night’s work, though, McGeady, who hadn’t a single goal to show for his 37 caps before Saturday, got the scoring off to a start, turning inside Veliche Shumulikoski after good work by Kevin Doyle before unleashing a shot that was at least good enough to beat a goalkeeper embarking on a very bad night.
If Edin Nuredinoski’s failure to prevent the ball beating him at his near post barely 90 seconds into the game explained why he is not normally Macedonia’s first-choice goalkeeper, his error for the second midway through the first half set our minds racing at the thought of what the other two reserve goalkeepers were like.
The 28-year-old landed himself in hot water by spilling a low driven free kick by Darron Gibson and then compounded the error by leaving enough space under him as he leapt to gather the loose ball for Robbie Keane to squeeze a follow-up shot home.
By then, Shane Long was on for the injured Kevin Doyle and when the Reading striker came close to capitalising on a swift counterattack started by Kevin Foley and advanced by Keane, it felt as though the Macedonians might simply be over-run.
Gradually, though, the locals allowed their grip in things to loosen and Mirsad Jonuz’s side began to sense that their might be a way back into the game.
Having looked utterly frustrated at the treatment he was receiving from the Irish defence, in particular Darren O’Dea, Inter Milan’s Goran Pandev started to get on top of things a little although his performance was to be comfortably eclipsed over the course of the night by the rather less celebrated Ivan Trickovski.
The pair linked up well for the goal with Pandev skipping away almost effortlessly from Kevin Kilbane out on the right flank before splitting the Irish centre-backs with a low pass for his team-mate, who then cleverly turned inside Richard Dunne before finishing coolly past Westwood with his left foot.
It was Dunne’s worst moment of a generally impressive night and it sparked a sense of uncertainty that persisted at least to some extent until the very end of the evening.
Trapattoni, somewhat inevitably, insisted afterwards that he was happy with every Irish performance but it was in truth a rather mixed bag.
The Irish yet again struggled to pass or retain possession of the ball for any length of time, a failure for which Glenn Whelan and Gibson have to accept a fair share of blame while Kevin Foley made some poor choices going forward and Long never made anything like the impact he had after coming on against Russia.
The visitors had one really good chance to grab an equaliser but Westwood did well, spreading himself quickly as Trickovski tried to side foot home after Muhamed Demiri had sent a nicely floated ball over Dunne.
The Irish, on the other hand, had a couple of chances to extend their lead in the second with Duff missing the target with a golden opportunity after good work by McGeady. Keane was also guilty of over-complicating matters when trying to set up Long by slipping the ball through Boban Grncharov’s legs and also had a shot late on blocked away for a corner by a defender’s leg.
In the absence of the goal required to settle Irish nerves, the bright spots late on were the appearances from the bench of Keith Fahey and James McCarthy, both of whom brought added composure in the centre.
The latter’s arrival prompted the loudest cheer of the evening, much louder certainly than the one that greeted the final whistle.
Then there was just a palpable sense of relief around the half full stadium that Trapattoni’s men had won again without playing well and remain in contention to qualify from a group that might well be winnable if only the Irish could find the extra gear or two that their manager continues to contend they possess.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:Westwood (Coventry City); Foley (Wolves), Dunne (Aston Villa), O'Dea (Ipswich Town), Kilbane (Huddersfield Town); Duff (Fulham), Gibson (Manchester United), Whelan (Stoke City), McGeady (Spartak Moscow); Keane (West Ham), Doyle (Wolves). Subs: Long (Reading) for Doyle (20 mins), Fahey (Birmingham City) for Gibson (77 mins), McCarthy (Wigan Athletic) for Keane (87 mins).
MACEDONIA: Nuredinoski (Ethnikos Achnas); Shikov (Ethnikos Achnas), Grncharov (Apoel Nicosia), Noveski (Mainz), Popov (Dynamo Kiev); Naumoski (Mattersburg), Shumulikoski (Novosibirisk), Tasevski (Levski Sofia), Demiri (Thun), Trickovski (Apoel Nicosia); Pandev (Internazionale). Subs: Gjurovski (Metalurg Donetsk) for Tasevski (61 mins), Ristikj (Amkar Perm) for Naumoski (68 mins).
Referee: Istvan Vad (Hungary)
