1. Is it inappropriate timing for Robbie Keane’s send-off?
ROBBIE KEANE IS one of Ireland’s greatest ever players and few would disagree that he deserves a grand goodbye and acknowledgement for his phenomenal service to the national side, with the player’s 67 goals forming an integral part of many of Irish football’s best days for just under two decades now.
Yet is it appropriate that the Irish team are having what is effectively a testimonial for Keane a few days before a highly important and potentially tricky World Cup qualifier away to Serbia?
The 36-year-old striker won’t be involved in the Serbia game, yet Martin O’Neill will still be obliged to pick him against Oman in order to give the Tallaght native the fitting send-off he deserves.
Perhaps O’Neill’s estimation of friendly matches is so low that he feels picking a player who won’t be involved in Serbia won’t really matter or have any impact on preparation, but it certainly gives credence to the idea that international friendlies are now completely meaningless when it comes to team’s warming up for potentially vital World Cup qualifiers.
Alternatively, could the Irish manager decide that he wants to give one of the other strikers in his squad — Shane Long, Jon Walters or Daryl Murphy — plenty of game time ahead of Serbia? Could O’Neill just bring on Keane for five minutes at the end and argue that important preparation for Serbia must be come before the interests of any individual player. But would it not be equally unsatisfying to reduce an Irish footballing legend to a deeply anti-climactic cameo appearance in his final game?
Furthermore, what must Keane himself make of the situation? Surely he didn’t dream of ending his esteemed international career against a team ranked 107th in the world.
2. Why do Ireland love playing Oman in friendlies?
For reasons that aren’t entirely obvious, Ireland seem to love playing Oman.
Wednesday night will be the third time in four years that the Boys in Green have faced the Arab country.
It’s probably as far from the concept of a ‘glamour friendly’ as you can get, as indicated by the attendance figures from the last two games — in 2012, just 6,420 people saw Ireland win 4-1 against Oman at Craven Cottage. Two years later, 14,376 supporters came to the Aviva to watch the Irish beat the same opposition 2-0.
This week, the FAI will be hoping the Keane factor as well as the post-Euros buzz will ensure a significant increase in interest compared with the aforementioned matches, as Oman alone are hardly the type of box-off draw needed to help clear the FAI’s much-publicised debt and bring in the many non-diehard fans who travelled over to support the team in France.
3. Is O’Neill being too loyal to certain players?
There was a sense of slight disappointment as Martin O’Neill named his Ireland squad last week.
Often, international managers see a new qualifying campaign as the perfect opportunity to introduce unfamiliar players to the set-up.
Even the notoriously conservative Giovanni Trapattoni gave then-relatively young and previously fringe players such as Marc Wilson and Seamus Coleman further game time after the Euro 2012 debacle.
Nevertheless, the big surprise with O’Neill’s squad to face Serbia and Oman was perhaps the lack of any real surprises or new names.
21-year-old Bristol City winger Callum O’Dowda, who featured in Ireland’s final Euro 2016 warm-up game against Belarus, was the one slightly left-of-centre pick.
Elsewhere, O’Neill stayed loyal to the players who have been in and around the set-up whilst seeming to ignore club form to an extent. Alex Pearce was picked despite having made just one 89th-minute substitute appearance for Derby in the Championship this season, while Eoghan O’Connell — who has made six appearances in total and three in the Champions League for Celtic in 2016-17 alone — had to be content with a place in the U21 squad.
Similarly, 36-year-old goalkeeper David Forde, who is on loan with Portsmouth in League Two, has been favoured over Nottingham Forest’s Stephen Henderson, who is a regular in the Championship two leagues above the Galway native.
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I was hoping for an all Ireland final in Edinburgh. But a Pro12 final with both Munster & Leinster is a mouth watering prospect too!
Great news that rassie is staying and they done wonderfully well to get to the semi but got it all wrong tactically yesterday.
I don’t think you can beat the very best teams with one up runners and box kicking. I just didn’t understand durning the sinbin why Munster continued to attack close in. Earls and Zebo against a defence with a man less should get at least one try.
A pro 12 final it is so.
Look its great to see them in a european semi but nobody would have thought that at the start of the season.rassie has done a great job i think he needs a decent second scrum half. with jj hanrahan back next season will have options at no 10 and centre.it was a bit one demensional yesterday but they gave them socks of it for 40 min.looking forward to rest of season and into the future come on munster
There seemed to be a lack of the ‘famed’ Munster ‘pride in the jersey’ Poor and one dimensional
@Peter Buchanan: Wouldn’t have been like that if Axel was still alive.
@El Psy Kongaroo:
Funny, I feel that the real pride in the only reappeared after Axel’s death.
@El Psy Kongaroo: stupid comet did you watch Munster last season they were well beaten yesterday but have improved massively in the last 6 months
@Peter Buchanan: You must’ve missed the try, player playing on with fractured ribs etc. No passion or pride my arse.
@Peter Buchanan: I was at the game and there was certainly no lack of pride – a below par performance yes but lack of pride and effort – no
@Thomas Harrington: Zero passion. It was crying out for someone to take a knee on the 22, pop some smoke and start putting down the heavy.