Republic of Ireland looking good in Euro 2016 qualifying

The Republic of Ireland have made a bright start to their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign under Martin O’Neill

The Republic of Ireland snatched a 94^th minute equaliser away in Germany last night to claim a very creditable 1-1 draw in qualifying for Euro 2016.

Ireland stood firm until the 71^st minute, when Germany midfielder Toni Kroos fired a long-range effort past David Forde.

However, just when it looked like Ireland was heading for defeat, captain and centre-back John O’Shea equalised for the visitors in the 94^th minute.

Disciplined

Ireland showed great defensive discipline throughout and kept the world champions surprisingly quiet.

The Germans produced a tepid first half display. The missing players and recent retirements have obviously had an effect on the squad.

However, you would have expected the world champions to have produced a better display than they did. Ireland produced almost the perfect defensive display to keep out Germany, while sacrificing their more attacking players.

Ireland sat deep at times and invited the Germans to attack and in truth John O’Shea and Mark Wilson at the heart of their defence looked solid.

Encouraging

Ireland has made an encouraging start to their Euro 2016 qualification campaign. Martin O’Neill’s side have taken seven points from a possible nine, with the draw at the Veltins Arena the obvious high point so far.

A win in Georgia and 7-0 home mauling of Gibraltar may have been expected, but the draw in Gelsenkirchen was probably not, especially considering that it is only a few months since Germany won the World Cup.

Ironically I do not think that Ireland have produced their best form so far in the Euro qualifiers, yet they have two wins and a big draw to their name.

Missing

Ireland were missing a number of key players for the trip to Germany, including influential Everton pair Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy. Both played a big part in the Toffees good first season under Roberto Martinez and are developing into highly-rated performers.

To get a draw without such influential players has to go down as a big achievement, even if the equaliser only arrived in stoppage-time.

Tough

Ireland is in a tough group. Germany were expected to top the group and are still favourites to do so at odds of 1/ 4, with Poland odds of 8/1 and Ireland odds of 9/1 to finish top of the pile.

Scotland is also in the mix for qualification, so Group D is a tough one for all of the teams involved. Poland and Ireland currently sit on seven points, after the Poles secured a 2-2 draw at home to Scotland on Tuesday night.

All four of the above mentioned teams will be hopeful of finishing in the two automatic qualification spots. A third place finish would not be a disaster for Ireland, Poland or Scotland. Germany still has to be fancied to finish as group winners, despite their poor start to qualifying.

Quality

The current Ireland squad seems to contain better quality players than in the past. The fact that a lot of the squad are Premier League players suggest that Ireland do have a decent pool of players to choose from.

There are also some players with the ability to produce moments of flair and skill. The likes of Wes Hoolahan, James McClean and Aiden McGeady all have the ability to take on opposition players and produce moments of magic.

Some Ireland teams in recent history have not had players of their ilk. Recent Ireland teams have been far more functional than flashy, containing workers rather more skilful players. However, Martin O’Neill has players available to him that can change games and create things out of nothing, even if they are slightly erratic at times.

Those players may not be best suited for games like last nights, but against inferior opposition to Germany they can make the difference, just as McGeady did in Ireland’s opening qualifier scoring two goals, the second of which was mostly his own work.

Promising

Ireland qualified for Euro 2012, but produced some terrible performances at the tournament. They then failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup.

At the moment though it is looking promising for Ireland and they look good for their second consecutive appearance at a European Championship finals tournament. I for one will certainly not be betting against the Irish making it to France in just under two years’ time.

Can the Republic of Ireland qualify for Euro 2016?