
Ireland 0 Luxembourg 0: How the Irish players rated
Needed a second chance to get hold of a cross in the 13th minute but just before the half-hour mark O'Leary made an impressive diving save high to his left to deny a goal-bound Sinani shot. Used his feet to block a near-post effort in the second half. A solid international debut.
Rating:
7
5: Jake O'Brien (Everton)
Suffered a bang to his head late on in what was an otherwise largely uneventful game for O'Brien. He tried to get up the field when Ireland were in possession but so much about this encounter felt like an end of season affair.
Rating:
6
22: Nathan Collins (Brentford)
Captained Ireland on the night and despite some scrappy defending by the team at times, they finished with a clean sheet. Collins went close to scoring with a first-half header but his effort hit the woodwork.
Rating:
6
4: Dara O'Shea (Ipswich Town)
Showed good positioning and decision-making when heading Smallbone's free back across the face of the goal for Ireland's best goalscoring chance in the first half – only for Collins to be denied by the woodwork.
Rating:
6
READ MORE
11: Robbie Brady (Preston North End)
He was forced off injured after just 20 minutes, a disappointing end to what was a positive season for Brady in green. Brady pulled a free short from a decent crossing position early on.
Rating:
4
17: Kasey McAteer (Leicester City)
Showed good endeavour early in the second half to get on the end of a goalscoring opportunity but his left-footed shot bounced wide of the right post. Was full of workrate and ambition throughout, though his finishing wasn't on point.
Rating:
6
8: Jason Knight (Bristol City)
He got back well to put his body in the way and make an important block on a close-range shot from Jans in the opening stages of the second half, the Luxembourg captain's shot hitting Knight and ricocheting out for a corner. Worked hard all night to try energise Ireland.
Rating:
6
Ireland's Killian Phillips and Jason Knight. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
24: Killian Phillips (St Mirren, on loan from Crystal Palace)
It has been a very encouraging few days for Phillips, who built on his first Ireland appearance in the draw with Senegal by earning his maiden start in this game. But like most of his team-mates, struggled to make an impact in a low-tempo contest.
Rating:
5
6: Will Smallbone (Southampton)
The Southampton midfielder whipped in a lovely weighted pass from a free late in the first half and it created Ireland's best scoring chance in the opening period, O'Shea nodding the ball back across the face of the goal where Collins headed against the woodwork.
Rating:
6
9: Evan Ferguson (West Ham United, on loan from Brighton)
He struggled to carry any real attacking threat in what was a lacklustre fixture. The Meath man was booked for a foul on Carlson, which prevented a Luxembourg breakaway midway through the second half. Ferguson was taken off with 15 minutes to go.
Rating:
5
7: Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar)
The Dubliner had something of a running battle with Korac and won two frees early on after the Luxembourg defender was forced to drag him down. Battled well and produced a lovely dinked finish for a goal that was correctly ruled offside in the 66th minute.
Rating:
7
Subs:
Ryan Manning (Southampton); Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town); Festy Ebosele (Istanbul Basaksehir); Adam Idah (Celtic); Matt Doherty (Wolves); John Patrick (Stade De Reims)
Manning was busy and made a very positive impact after his introduction. Ebosele and Taylor combined to create a good goalscoring chance soon after they came off the bench. Taylor also smacked the crossbar with a rasping shot late on. Doherty made an important late interception.
Rating:
7
Manager: Heimir Hallgrímsson
On what was his 58th birthday, Hallgrímsson was at least able to celebrate Ireland getting through this international window unbeaten. This match will not last long in the memory but over the course of the two games he did at least get to have a look at some new players in green.
Rating:
6
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The Irish Sun
19 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Major broadcasting All-Ireland final history to be made as Kerry vs Donegal to be shown in NEW language for first time
TELEVISION history will be made this weekend when Kerry and Donegal face-off in the All-Ireland football final. 2 Kerry will face Donegal in the All-Ireland final Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile 2 The game will be shown in French for the first time on Sportall Credit: SPORTALL And for the first time ever, the game will be shown in FRENCH through TV station Sportall. The French station televised the semi-finals but Sunday will be the first time it will broadcast the final itself. This is not the only major TV detail associated with this weekend's clash. RTE, for instance, will be Read More on GAA That is due to its Women 's Euro 2025 commitments, with the final between The national Peter Canavan and Lee Keegan for pre and post-match analysis. Like the semi-final between Meath and Donegal, Damian Lawlor It'll be Darragh Maloney and Most read in GAA Football The programme will begin on RTE One from 2:15pm with it running until 6pm. Meanwhile, over in the For the BBC, Thomas Niblock will be chairing the discussion between Oisin McConville, Philly McMahon, Conor McManus, Mickey Harte, Owen Mulligan and Brendan Devenney. Niblock and Harte will certainly will be doing double-time as they'll also provide the commentary. Additionally, they've recruited refereeing consultant a la That packed broadcast will get under way from 3pm and is due to wrap up at 5.30pm. It adds yet another layer to what will be a mouthwatering battle between two of gaelic football 's giants. For For It made for a scarring occasion for Ryan McHugh, whose dad won Sam in 1992 and older brother Martin did so in 2012. He had been one of the heroes of the 2014 semi-final victory against Dublin, scoring 2-2 from wing forward. But 11 years on from the 2-9 to 0-12 loss to the Kingdom in the finale, and McHugh is so scarred by the defeat that 'NO POINT LYING' He said: 'I watch every game back. With 2014, I never took it upon myself to sit down and watch it back. "I don't think I played well that day. I just could never bring myself to get it. Maybe it was the inexperience of the whole thing.' McHugh had been instrumental in inflicting the only Championship loss experienced by But goals from Paul Geaney and Kieran Donaghy prevented him from adding another Celtic Cross to the family haul. He added: 'It was a tough one — there's no point in lying. 'I was fortunate to get back in with my club Kilcar a week later. But it still haunts you. 'You go into the game on such a high and after such a huge performance against Dublin. 'We did everything so right against Dublin and then not to click against Kerry — obviously Kerry had a good performance — was such a disappointment for us. 'You move on, but you don't get over defeats like that. Even if we won this one, it wouldn't get over 2014. We were in a position to win the All-Ireland final and we didn't do it.'


Irish Daily Mirror
19 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Dean Rock: Donegal's devastating counterattack combined with Kerry's reliance on Clifford to settle it
Running out of the tunnel on All-Ireland final day is one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life – emerging from beneath the Hogan Stand to a cathedral of noise and colour. That moment you turn the corner of the tunnel and the sunlight hits you from outside, an attack on the senses follows. The music is playing, Jerry Grogan announces ' Áth Cliath ' and the place erupts. You'll never feel more alive in your life. You could have been feeling aches and pains seconds earlier but that all immediately disappears. I swear I've seen some lads hit their top speed for the season in that dash from the mouth of the tunnel to the bench for the team photo. And I've seen others almost pull a hamstring! The footballers of Kerry and Donegal get to experience the magic of that moment on Sunday, but right now everything about their day will be framed by how it ends, not how it starts. It's about taking care of business. READ MORE And you can be sure the business of the kickouts has been high on the agenda for both Jack O'Connor and Jim McGuinness over the last fortnight. It will be a key battleground in this year's All-Ireland final. I expect both teams will target the opposition's half-back line to try to orchestrate mismatches in terms of size and strength. Michael Murphy will drift out regularly to the middle third on Donegal's restarts. I'd expect Jason Foley to follow him but if Murphy manages to create a match-up with Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Paul Murphy or Dylan Casey, then you can be sure goalkeeper Shaun Patton will identify that mismatch and aim for his towering number 14. The distance and accuracy of Shaun Patton's kickouts is a big asset for Donegal. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho And it will be the same at the other end of the field. Seán O'Shea might drift over to Ryan McHugh or Peadar Mogan on Kerry's kickouts, giving goalkeeper Shane Ryan a strong percentage option. Still, I think Donegal's objective will actually be to cut off Ryan's short ball and force him to go long for an aerial contest in the middle. It's in the middle that they'll fancy the physical presence of Michael Langan, Hugh McFadden, Ciarán Thompson and Murphy to win possession. From a confidence perspective, Kerry will enter the game feeling they have already nullified two of the game's best goalkeepers when it comes to restarts – Ethan Rafferty and Niall Morgan. But Patton will provide a different puzzle to figure out. His ability to kick over the press – with huge length and an arrow-like trajectory – provides Donegal with the potential to exploit the oceans of space at the other end. So Kerry must find the right balance with their press. For Donegal, one of the big deliberations over the last fortnight will have been how to curtail David Clifford. There is a comparison with how Lionel Messi dragged a fairly average Argentina team to win the 2022 World Cup to what Clifford has been doing with Kerry this season. [ The obvious way Donegal can be beaten by Kerry is ... David Clifford Opens in new window ] Brendan McCole will almost certainly pick him up but whenever Kerry have possession, Donegal will strive to get a double-up. McCole will try put him on his right foot and whenever Clifford looks to come back on his left, Donegal will aim to have a second defender there to close off that possibility. A case of 'if you're going to score, then score with your right because we're not going to let you come back on your left and bang it over'. McGuinness and Donegal are too experienced to put all their focus on Clifford, though. They'll have their homework done on all of the Kerry players. And vice versa. If David Clifford is not at the top of his game, it remains to be seen if Kerry's other attackers can step up. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho They'll know the areas O'Shea likes to shoot from and they'll be aware he's going to kick with his right foot nine times out of 10. They'll have studied Paudie Clifford's movement patterns and dummies. Nothing will be left to chance. I don't see Donegal moving way from their zonal system because it has worked for them to get to this stage of the competition, but they'll be primed for the right moment to put heat on the ball. And that is when there will be the potential for them to force game-defining turnovers. When they turn the ball over, Donegal's ability to break at pace and with huge numbers overwhelms the opposition. There is a significant risk-reward element to such counterattacks because if they get caught halfway up the field, they are exposed at the back. But Donegal are happy to take that risk because they believe over the 70 minutes there is more to be gained than lost. That pure abandonment is so impressive to watch. When they turn over the ball, they're not surveying the scene to see if they have their three defenders still inside the half. There's just an innate trust that somebody will do it. Donegal's only concern is to beat the opposition up the pitch before they can get 11 defenders back. They want to score off the first phase of the attack. With these new rules, you play a game where most of your attacks are structured 11 v 11 plays, but if you see an opportunity to catch a team with a rapid counterattack, you have to be brave enough to seize the opportunity. Not all teams grasp that bravery. I'd imagine for months now, during Donegal's training sessions, they have been endlessly going through turnover scenarios until it has become part of their DNA. Now, whenever they turn the ball over inside their 45, they're gone, 45-metre line to end line, boom. They would have been repping and repping those drills. It's now become their identity. Peadar Mogan of Donegal steals a yard on Meath's Donal Keogan during the All-Ireland SFC semi-final. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Kerry have the same ambition when they turn over the ball; they're looking to go fast too, but their instinct is to kick the ball whereas Donegal let their runners off the leash. My fear for Kerry is that they might struggle to contain those counterattacks. I also think too much of what they do in the final could hinge on David Clifford. What happens if he doesn't deliver another eight- or nine-out-of-ten performance? He has scored a staggering 8-53 so far in this year's championship. But Donegal will have crunched the numbers. If they stop him from getting near that 1-9, 1-10 territory, will the rest of the Kerry forwards be able to contribute enough to outscore Donegal? [ How Kerry or Donegal could win or lose the All-Ireland final Opens in new window ] Kerry will need a bolter from the pack, somebody like Dylan Geaney to score 0-6 or an impact player from the bench hitting 1-2. I'm just not convinced that is going to happen. Donegal have a broader spread of scoring options. In their last five games, they had 12 different scorers against Meath, nine against Monaghan, 12 against Louth, 10 against Mayo, 12 against Cavan. Kerry had seven different scorers against Tyrone, nine against Armagh, eight against Cavan, six against Meath, nine against Cork. Crucially, Donegal have been consistently getting scores off the bench too and they have serious depth with the likes of Paddy McBrearty, Dáire Ó Baoill and Jason McGee primed to enter the fray. Both teams will get to experience the magic of coming out from the Hogan Stand tunnel on Sunday but only one will get the opportunity to walk up the steps to lift Sam Maguire later that evening. It feels like Donegal's moment.