IRELAND FACE SERBIA at the Aviva Stadium this evening in what is arguably their biggest match of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign so far.
The Boys in Green go into the game on the back of a hugely disappointing display against Georgia in Tbilisi in which they were lucky to emerge with a 1-1 draw against the group’s sixth seeds.
Confidence among home supporters is therefore unlikely to be too high, particularly as they face a Serbian team two points ahead of them at the top of Group D.
Despite missing key players such as Nemanja Matic and Aleksandar Kolarov on the night, Serbia outplayed Ireland for large spells of the sides’ reverse fixture, which took place a year ago today at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade.
Slavoljub Muslin’s team are unbeaten in seven Group D matches and will probably go into this game as slight favourites given their recent record and the superior calibre of players at their disposal.
That said, under Martin O’Neill, Ireland have traditionally tended to play well when their backs have been against the wall.
The unconvincing 1-0 win at home to Georgia in the last campaign was followed by the euphoria of beating Germany. At Euro 2016, the comprehensive 3-0 loss to Belgium came before the surprise triumph at the expense of Italy.
Martin O’Neill will be hoping for a similar reaction tonight after Saturday’s error-ridden performance in Tbilisi attracted plenty of criticism from fans and media alike.
So, with all that in mind, what do you think the result will be this evening?
Poll Results:
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As a fan of the League of Ireland I am delighted with this, however this is not the first time Finn Harps have been down this road, they now need to put a suitable business pan together in order to run the club with in its mean, unfortunately that may mean reducing the players and managers budget dramatically. I think Monaghan Utd may be actually the only team in the league that live within their means
As for the could of been spent on other causes, I am not 100% sure but is there not money set aside for different departments i.e. Roads, Sport & Reconciliation etc., etc.
From what I gather this was a special one off payment. They should have just burnt the money at least they’d have got some warmth off it! Just delaying the inevitable, Finn Harps is not sustainable as a business.
As for the plans for a 5,000 seater stadium in Ballybofey??! Pfft!
Disgraceful waste of taxpayers money! The roads are in sh*te and the council don’t have enough money to fix bloody potholes, yet they have 20K to waste on a completely unsustainable business. How beneficial to the local community is 100-200 people turning up to Finn Park every couple of weeks for a few months a year!?!