Updated at 6.15pm
Adam McKendry reports from Ballyliffin
LOCAL HOPES SEEM to have ended at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open as Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell carded disappointing third rounds at Ballyliffin.
McDowell was first in of the pair, carding a one-over 73 to sit one-over for the tournament, while McIlroy shot a level par 72 to remain at one-under for the three days.
South Africa’s van Rooyen shot a six-under 66 in the third round and will take a four shot lead into the final day on 14-under par.
Van Rooyen didn’t have a dropped shot all day as he surged ahead thanks to six birdies in a stunning front nine of 29, which he then backed up with a solid back nine of all pars.
Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox are his closest challengers at 10-under, after rounds of 69 and 70 respectively, with England’s Danny Willett a further stroke back after he went round in three-under.
However, it was a disappointing day for local golfers as none of them were under par on a day when the wind and rain finally swept in after several days of perfect conditions.
McIlroy was level par for the day, keeping him marooned at one-under and out of contention, while McDowell carded a one-over 73 to sit one-over for the tournament and Shane Lowry was two-over on the day, dropping back to level for the three days.
That means they are a long way behind leader Van Rooyen who, after shooting the best round of the week on Friday with a 65, looked to be well on his way to another stunning score when he turned in 29.
The South African birdied the first two holes and gained a further stroke at the fourth, before he then rattled off three straight birdies from the seventh to the ninth as he tore apart the Glashedy’s defences.
However, his momentum stalled on the back nine, but he did recover well on several occasions – namely an excellent recovery on the 15th from a fairway bunker – to finish out his round with nine straight pars.
“It’s always nice getting off to a good start,” Van Rooyen said of his front nine. “From there I was able to keep it going.
“I didn’t hit it as well off the tee (on the back nine) and obviously keeping it in the fairway is key on this golf course.
“It’s not over until the 18th hole though. I’m going to stick to my game plan and make some birdies.”
Playing partner Lagergren was trying to keep pace with him but struggled, his three front nine birdies dropping him four strokes behind, and he too would play the entire back nine in only pars, much to his frustration.
“I feel like I played well, I just left a lot of shots out there,” a disappointed Lagergren said. “I didn’t hole many putts and I should be a lot better.
But I’m still hitting the ball well, so (I’m going to do) the same stuff tomorrow, I know I have a low one in there. Play some good golf and I’ll be able to catch him.”
Fox was the opposite, turning in one-over after a tough opening nine, but he chalked up three birdies on the back nine to save face and keep himself in contention going into Sunday.
But for the home players it was not a good day as Paul Dunne finished alongside McDowell at one-over, with Simon Thornton failing to make any significant moves up the leaderboard too.
It was a break from the norm at Ballyliffin as wet weather came in, the rain and slightly stronger winds causing problems for the players as they tackled the links.
Early starters made excellent pace as defending champion Jon Rahm set the clubhouse lead alongside former European Ryder Cup star Andy Sullivan at six-under.
Rahm in particular was very impressive on his front nine as he posted six birdies and a bogey to turn in five under, but he then could only manage nine pars on his back nine, leading to plenty of frustration from the Spaniard.
“I gave myself plenty of chances on the back nine, I just couldn’t make any putts,” the World No.5 lamented. “Either way, five-under par is a great round.
Hopefully the weather that’s forecast comes in and makes it tricky so the leaders don’t get too far away from me.”
McIlroy had a hugely disappointing front nine as he cancelled out three birdies with three bogeys, and all he could manage on the back nine was one birdie and a closing bogey at the 18th.
“(That was) pretty similar to the last couple of days,” McIlroy said. “I hit the ball pretty well, a few loose shots here and there, and I held a few putts here and there as well.
“I feel like with that rain coming in the greens slowed up a little, I had trouble getting it to the hole.
“I’ve just been stuck in neutral this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it off with a good one tomorrow.”
McDowell was even more disappointed by his round as he saw two early birdies at the third and fifth undone by bogeys at the 9th, 11th and also the 18th.
Afterwards, the Rathmore man admitted he was tired from his recent schedule and would be considering his option over the upcoming days.
I’m going to play tomorrow and then I’m going to have a chat about whether I’m going to play (at the Scottish Open) next week or not – that’s kind of where my head is right now,” he admitted.
“I’ve got too much golf. Something has to give. And I haven’t seen my family much at all, it’s been a really hard run in the last couple of months especially. I’m ready to have a week off to be honest, a proper week off.”
Meanwhile, Dunne was also going well having birdied the second and fourth, but a bogey at the eighth and a double bogey on the 10th halted his momentum, before he salvaged his round with a birdie at 17.
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Thanks trap it’s been annoying, interesting, bewildering & heartbreaking at this stage the only thing I like about you is your translater , with that said why dont you ask the fai to find a decent replacement for the euro 2016 qualifiers today.
Because he would have to forego his salary. He will wait for the sack and take the golden handshake. The mismanagement by the fai is another national disgrace. They are only worried about pints. Not points.
They will employ an other foreigner. If Brian Kerr had been left in place, or or if johnny giles would have been given the job, … Well too late now, ( or is it ? ) The FAI will go back to continental Europe and look for a new used-to-be soccor star to humiliate us all over again.
Told u so.
Ireland look like a meek team these days which is a long way off the in your face style of previous teams.
Trappatonis lack of faith in our players has us playing with the handbrake on, and whereas we are defensively good (great away record) our home record is pretty abysmal.
For all his supposed tactical sophistication our football is stone age hoofing. Grazie and goodbye Trap.
4-2-4 formation next match. Who needs wingers if you’re just gonna hoof it forward over the midfielders anyway
Well lets look on the bright side. We wont get to see John Delaney in his shorts on the beach downing pints with the lads.
Well, he’ll probably be there anyway, regardless. He should’ve stepped down long ago. Trapp too!
Should have been sacked 3 years ago!!!! Time for Chris Hughton to step in and get us playing football again.
Houghton also plays abysmal football, watch Norwich or his old Birmingham team
Very interesting to see him at the game last night ..
No, it’s not time to get Chris Houghton in. It’s that exact insular thinking that will get us nowhere. Why not get someone like Rene Meulensteen in? Bags of experience at United, Dutch, and espouses forward-thinking, intelligent football. He would be great for looking at and refreshing our approach to youth football.
Checking on his Norwich players and also like many ex players goes to lansdown regularly when we are playing. . .
James McLean was one of the few positives from last night!
& the moron took him off!! McLean was brilliant
Yea thought mcclean did very well. Was disappointed Coleman didn’t get forward more, I assume he was instructed not to seen as he had a striker in front of him all night
He was dead for 10 minutes before he was taken off
At this point Kieran McGeeney would do a better job for far less money.
less money? are u sure
I think the young player are starting to come through now. More of them are playing in the premiership but trap has them playing all wrong. He should and will go when his contract is up and the end of this campaign. In saying John Delaney and anyone else who was responsible for reappointing trap before the euro’s last year should do the decent thing
Don airgead atá sé ag fáil, níl sé seo maith go leor. Deireadh an scéal.
An bhfuil tu ag feachaint martin o neill?
Ireland just are not good enough. There was a time when most of the starting 11 were playing top-flight football; now it’s only by exception.
True but all top teams were predominantly made up of Scots, Irish, English and Welsh back then. Everton won the league with the likes of John Bailey, Derek Mountfield and Adrian Heath, not even international players, the premiership is far superior now.
Brilliant article Paul.
How many of swedes players are playing top flight football? 1.
How many players do we have that play top flight football but get overlooked for championship players?
We really don’t have the players. I actually think we punch above our weight. Sure look at Wales and Scotland. Wales have the €100 million man in the Squad and are hopeless, even though Cardiff and Swansea play PL. As for Scotland, Celtic in the CL most years. If both these nations with a better pedigree than us can’t get within an asses roar of a WC, what right do we have to expect it.No history of qualifying for major tournaments, no wins over a top side since Holland 2001, no Players at top 6-7 PL clubs, 1 playing CL, no real domestic league and a squad made up of mid-ranking PL/Championship clubs. Some people need a reality check. Football is on the decline here and until
such time as we put structures in place to produce better more skillful players and not rely on the English to do it, the International
Team will be lucky to get to another major championship like we were in 2012.
Ah Ger, as the article above says, Ibrahimovic aside, our players are comparable to Sweden, a side who regularly qualify for tournaments. Scotland and Wales may have a better pedigree of clubs but we have had the better pedigree of players for the last 25 to 30 years – qualifying for 5 major tournaments in that time. We beat France in 09 when the players ignored Trapattoni’s tactics and just went for it. A squad made up of players from mid ranking to bottom half Premier League clubs is mostly possible now – it’s not all that bad a state of affairs. With a new manager in, reinstating some basic footballing philosophies, whilst picking our best players in their best positions, I think we have every chance to qualify for the 2016 Euros, especially considering the number of teams who can qualify has gone from 16 to 24.
Look at every team…every international team where the manager picks the best players available…they at least have some shape about them..some tactical cop, take the north, they have no players of quality yet have shown the past few matches that they can play and have a cohesive structure to their game.
Trap has no faith in our ability to play, he has denounced this country and the players as mediocre…his crap selections, his late baffling and ineffective subs has cost us dear in the past and his one dimensional tactics has been exposed and brutally exposed at the euros where we were without doubt the worst and most pathetic team to have qualified.
Look what happened under Brian Kerr in Autumn 05′, we had an experienced Roy Keane as well as Robbie, Duffer, Finnan, Dunne, Given and O’Shea all in their prime, yet the best we could manage in world cup qualifying was a lousy 4th place….
If it had been Trap in charge of that particular campaign and that vastly superior set of Ireland players, people would be calling for him to be hanged!
I think some people need a reality check here, until we unearth at least one or two genuine world class match winning players, we are not going to be able to dictate games and take max points against the likes of Sweden and Austria, nevermind Spain, Croatia etc which is what prevents us qualifying every time.
I look forward to a better style and more experimentation from the new manager, but the inclusion of 4-5-1, Gibson and Anthony Stokes alone is not going to guarantee us qualification for major tournaments, as Ger said, look at the state of Wales, they have Bale, Ramsey, Allen, Ledley, Bellamy, Williams etc and yet they still never get close to qualifying!
Saying Ireland have the players to qualify for the WC is like saying Mikey Cyrus has a nice ass. Sounds about right in principle but in practice…
The only difference between Sweden & Ireland is they have 1 world class player & Ireland don’t.
Does that ‘sound right in practice’? I wouldn’t be looking at mikey’s arse at the worst of times!
Who’s arse is this now ?
Oh that Mikey Cyrus.
You know – Money Cyrus? He died alongside Constant Markiewicz in that 1916.
Haha – Android spellcheck does it again…
Spell check aside, it’s still a stooopid comment.
Ye want rid of Trap (like myself) ? Stop going to the games hit the FAI where they can’t afford to be hit. If the team is playing well winning and such the ground gets filled if they’re cack and not getting results dont be throwing away good money. And the tactics right now are worse than cack.
Stop going to games and hit Donkey Delaney’s salary .. Him and his bell end chums at the FAI are the real problem get someone in there who has a set of balls, who know when a mangers time is up and has the skills to deal with it
Great article. Hard to argue with any of that.
The only part I would argue with is the piece about McClean, he justified his start.
I’d argue with calling Marc Wilson an “exciting young talent”.
Trap has always had a complete lack of trust in the players ability, from the time he began we’ve played the type of football a kin to the Charlton era you only have to look at the type of player he has overlooked time and again. Andy Reid, David Meyler, Darren Gibson and Stokes to a lesser extent. These players while not world beaters can get the ball down and knock it around with a bit of creativity. Its only recently under pressure from Delaney that Weso, Brady and McClean have been brought in.. We DO have the players at our disposal to play a brand of football that can be competitive and exciting to watch for the fans.. I’ve watched teams play against us at Croke park and the Aviva way below us in the FIFA rankings who passed us off the park with players that play at a level similar to the Airtricity league.. Its time for a change in manager to make sure this generation of players can at the very least show us that they can play the type of football the Irish public want to see and deserve to watch for the support shown while the current manager has stubbornly refused to listen to the Irish footballing public and stuck to this boring, unexciting and dull brand of play that CLEARLY DOES NOT WORK !! #COYBIG
Clearly it does work, we qualified for the euros and came very close to the World Cup in 2010! People forget how bad Ireland actually were before that! He criticises the selection yet I’d argue McClean was one of our best last night and Forde put in a motm performance in the last game which would have made dropping him seem a little harsh. Ireland have one player playing champions league football and I struggle to name any playing in the Europa league even? We’re reliant on an ageing striker playing in the elephants graveyard that is the MLS and the majority of the squad are nothing more than journey men. Sweden on the other hand have qualified for every major tournament in recent memory. People need to be more realistic when it comes to Ireland’s football team, they punch above their weight considering the serious lack of facilities in this country and the shoddy domestic league!
Anyone who defends trap by saying we don’t have the players don’t understand football,Walters as a midfielder is shite,Robbie Keane as a starter is wrong,as soon as he scored he went on holiday and ways cause of them firstly Sweden goal with this lazyness?trap has done us wrong too many times now,we’re slightly better than when Steve Staunton had us,at this stage its marginal,there are plenty of other wrongs we could highlight over the years,dropping players who were inform and playing out of form players, cox instead of brady,greene v Spain? Andy Reid years ago
Ah yes but you have failed to notice that Shane Long was lazy the entire game ,chewing gum.i fail to see why we play him
But he scored wheras Shane long didnt get a shot on target
shane lomg won nearly every header played up to him,yes shane could and should have squared it after john o sheas good work,im not comparing shane long anyway,my point was that traps stubborness to pick what should be the corrct team with people playing in proper positions has cost us for 3 years now,as soon as robbie scored he quit working,i just think robbie would have more of an impact at this stage of his career coming on for a half hour,peace my friend
Where’s the anti Robbie Keane bellends now? If he didn’t score this article would be full of “he’s sh1t” comments
big time
In fairness I don’t think people are anti-robbie keane, the man is a legend for Ireland but you don’t pick on sentimentality…you pick on form and there’s no denying that he was not performing for a few games…he scored last night…great goal but what else did he do?…what did any of them do?
Players are not good enough. You can’t polish a turd.
How do you know there not good enough if you don’t play them to their strengths !!!! It’s the only way to find out , you won’t find out using a system that even a blind man could read now
Martin o neill maybe? ? Worth a shot at this stage!
Well worth a shot…Martin O’Neill operates with a GAA mind set in that the best man for a particular position will play in the position. Look at what he did for Celtic. The only clear contender if you ask me.
Best part of last night was Nadia Forde singing the national anthem.
Correction – Nadia Forde’s breasts. It looked like a photo finish in a zeppelin race.
Time for Davy Fitz to step up…and a new interpreter…
Thanks for getting us to the Euros Trapp but if we get anything but 3 points against Austria you need to step aside..
Needs to step aside regardless of the result
Deluded.com… thinking we have the team to seriously challenge for top spot… bonkers.. with the exception of stokes none of our players will be in the CL.. thats where we are..all the Germans incl the subs bench regularly play top flight football… yes agreed traps tactics are of a different era and he has consistently ignored emerging talent.. keanes goal was the work of a hatcher.. reminded me of quinns goal against the dutch 20 something years ago..the game has moved on and the quality of players available for selection is not up to the mark..saying if only trap brought on hoolihan,sammon or bart Simpson is not acknowledging the fact that if alex ferguson or jose mourinho managed the team the end result would be the same. As evidenced by our dismal display in the euros.. hockeyed by teams with far better players, in fact we would never have made it to Poland had we not drawn Estonia in the play offs the only team we had a chance against..
If fergie or Jose had this group of players then second place would be a shoe in. Silly, silly comment.
To think that a top quality manager who trusts his players and encourages them to play football the right way by keeping the ball on the floor wouldn’t make a difference that is deluded! There is great potential within this irish team, they might not compete with the giants of international football but definitely have the ability to qualify for major tournaments. Man for man the irish squad is better squad than the swedish squad. The difference is the swedish manager is getting the best out of what he has and trap simply isn’t getting close! His style of football is dated and i believe with the right manager (o’neill,Hughton) this team will be a hard one to beat.
That’s a cop out to excuse trap’s shite…saying we don’t have the players is saying you believe what he says rather than have your own scrutiny…he’s responsible for team selection and he’s making a mess of it because either he doesn’t care or he’s an idiot.
Only one man for the job – Roy Keane!
How many top flight players do Northern Ireland have, yet they put it up Portugal twice. Likewise Iceland and Estonia last night, against Switzerland and Holland. We HAVE the players, the senile old fool either wont pick them, play them or plays them in the wrong position. Bringing on Cox for McLean last night was an abomination. Considering Sammon for Long had me pulling my hair out, and it’s obvious to the entire country surely that Glen Whelan should never wear a green shirt again. Yet he’s still picked every time if fit. I feel sorry for the players, because they have the ability (bar, Cox, whelan and Sammon) they are just straighjacketed into a system bereft of creativity and ideas.
My sentiment entirely…well said.
“One of the most disappointing aspects of yesterday’s match was that Ireland were beaten by a fairly mediocre team”.
Going to have to disagree with you Paul. To call Sweden mediocre when they have only missed one international tournament in the last 6 and performed admirably at some of those is completely unfair to a team that quite frankly demolished us last night.
We are a country with less approx 5 million people. The city of Manchester has a similar population. Large portion of our young schoolboy talent is playing GAA and hurling. We just don’t have a big enough pool of players to pick from.
We cannot continually blame the manager all the time.
The city of manchester has nowhere near 5 million people
This is cobblers, soccer is far and away the most played team game in Ireland, the FAI has far more registered players on the books across all ages and levels than most other countries with our approximate population. Sick to death of this nonsensical non-excuse. Check the stats on the websites of FIFA & UEFA yourself if you doubt me.
Because ireland is full of top quality players, come on ffs. It’s simple, WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!
Its the manner of the defeat and the team / squad selection that is the problem – not the fact that we got deated
…defeated…
Even the lowliest opposition we played…teams made up of amateurs have played us off the field on occasion..are them amateurs better than what we have or do them teams have a manager that understands the attack is how you win, passing the ball holds possession, picking your best 11 out of what’s available?
Trap understands none of this…..keep the ball in the air he says because of his deep mistrust in the passing game.
It’s a sop to Trap by even suggesting our players are not good enough.
FAI fcuked up when they gave Trap a new contract before the Euros.We are not producing the class players we have in the past,but it doesn’t help when the tactics applied are Stone Age.
The first thing thats gotta happen is that Trap goes, them that fkn clown Delaneys donkey has got to follow him too with his fat saliry doing nothing in the interests of Irish football.A new head man is needed, new broom and sweep all the hangers on away, then take time because he will have time and plenty of it to get a new manager like Hughton or O Neill or just someone who has an idea of how to play football like it should be played.RANT OVER !!
Even though Trampatoni is a clown & deserves the sack…. It wasn’t his fault for headless chicken Long not having a footballers instinct to put the ball into Robbie for the equaliser or McCarthy JOGGING when ibrahimovic set up the winner
Gick manager gick players
Gick comment …..
I’d love to see Martin O’Neill get shot at the job
Bang on! After the Euro’s I said we should have turned straight around and hand a contract to Harry Redknapp before another club came in for him. Would have been a perfect appointment with players like McCarthy and Coleman in the team.
You lost me at Harry…
Dont follow premiership but I think Alex Ferguson could be a contender. Part time job for him. Win win
You’re a deluded person
No wonder there are teenagers commitng suicide, with people making snide remarks, and spouting insults on forums such as this.
My comment, is purely an opinion.
You don’t know me so. Pfo
Extremely harsh on James Mcclean. I think his work ethic and determination was brilliant last night. When he picked up the ball he wanted to run at defenders and his cross, lucky as it was, almost resulted in a goal. Also put in a few crunching tackles too, if more players had of done the same around the midfield then we’d have been smiling today with three points.
Typical. Same old shit. I believe trap should go and we need a new manager, but seriously, Irish soccer media are getting more and more like their English counterparts. Deluded to suggest that the players we had on show last night are good enough to compete in a World Cup finals.
There’s always been a media darling in the Irish squad, who if he was playing would mean we could beat anyone, according to Irish soccer pundits. Current flavour of the month is wes hoolahan. Before that it was James mc carthy, Stephen Ireland… Andy Reid… You get the picture. All average players who would not get a look in at a top 4 premiership side.
I’m sick and tired of the players always being excused when we lose. Long jogging about last night half asleep chewing f**king gum, WTF??
When mick mc carthy and big jack were there we had genuine quality players, not the dross on show last night. OUR PLAYERS ARE SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! End of story.
Invest in underage squads and build a team like Belgium have done, only way forward.
I completely agree, there’s always one player the Irish football media use as a stick to beat Ireland managers. With Stan it was Lee Carsley…. Lee f**king Carsley. People need to get a grip.
Here here
I hate this irish mindset of not being good enough. Belief in your own ability has a big part to play in modern sports. If the manager does not believe in his own team, what hope have we? Same in GAA. If you don’t think you’re good enough then you never will be.
I think this is one instance when you can’t really point the finger at Trap. I’ve never been a massive fan of his but last nights team was probably the strongest available. Gibson is injured so his non-selection is irrelevant and to suggest Stokes or Damien Delaney would’ve made a difference is stretching things. We have some good players, they just played badly last night. Dunne looked well off the pace, McCarthy looked nothing like a 13m player and most of the team were guilty of poor touches and loose passing throughout. As limited as Sweden may be, they played better than we did.
I think you can most certainly point the finger at Trap, we were all expecting something different last night but he once again employed the same ol, same ol – Glenn Whelan as his talisman in midfield – from day one Traps selection and philosophy regarding our central midfield has been an unforgiveable incompetence, with the goalkeeper and defenders increasingly encouraged to hoof it long as the only answer to this incompetence. There was a player injured(Long) who afterwards became completely ineffectual but was left on the park, all while a good player(Walters) was played out of position only to be replaced with an inferior player(Cox) also played out of position. Once again one of our best players on the night(McLean) was substituted, and once again alternative tactical options some sitting on the bench, some(unforgiveably) sitting at home, were not utilised.
I still think he picked the strongest available first 11, which was the issue raised by the author in this article. The team sent out were good enough to win and showed that in the first half hour, but some poor individual performances and mistakes cost them the game. Trap should and probably will go, but last nights loss is as much to do with the players. It’s too easy and a bit lazy to blame the manager when players underperform. I agree that Cox is limited and would prefer if he was nowhere near the team, but the rest of the team should have had enough to win it without him.
Conor, how could he justify Walters or Cox ahead of Robbie Brady, Wesley Houlihan or Anthony Pilkington? Playing players out of position is a recipe for disaster. Trap has been a success but he can’t take this any further. Hopefully he will resign after Vienna.
Easy really. Walters wasn’t out of position, he plays wide right for Stoke, albeit as part of a 5 man midfield. He’s played there at international level before and performed well. Houlihan plays through the middle, Pilkington plays left wing for Norwich as does Brady for Hull. So all the players you mentioned would be “out of position” on top of being unproven at international level. As I said before, I’m not a fan of Simon Cox, but then he wasn’t in the first 11.
I think Trap has done a brilliant job and deserves to be thanked for getting us to the Euros and almost getting us to the last WC. Ireland have a strong footballing tradition but a tiny pool to choose from so we have seriously punched above our weight.
Having said that the tactics last night weren’t good enough and it really was crying out for Hoolahan. He should stay on for the Austria game and would probably be best option should we get all three points to finish the campaign but anything less than three points and we should start preparing for the Euros in France imediately. It is worth noting the next Euros will have 24 teams so it should be well within us to qualify.
Get someone Irish next. Someone the players know. Maybe Martin O’Neill. There are some good young players there to build a new team around that, in fairness, have been blooded well by Trap. There could also be conciliatory talks to bring back Gibson and Stokes and a few others who are in the cold right now.
I really hope Trap can leave with some dignity and people don’t turn this into a witch hunt. The man deserves respect.
COYBIG
His tactics last night weren’t good enough, his tactics against Austria weren’t good enough, his tactics and philosophy against Germany and Kazakhstan weren’t good enough, his tactics, attitude and philosophy at the Euros wasn’t good enough, the same against Russia and in most of our matches in that qualifying group. Don’t forget how god awful 95% of his reign has been to watch, how fortunate we were in so many games – scraping undeserved draws and one goal victories – this has been coming for a long time, the old bluffer’s luck finally ran out last night and I have to say that I for one, have found in that, a kind of relief.
He deserves no respect for his Ireland tenure….respect is earned on achievement and apart from getting us to the euros…(disregarding the massive luck we had when Slovakia failed to beat Macedonia..a win for them would have certainly seen us out of contention..and a solid one man defensive display against Russia)….Trap has done nothing only brought us down the rankings, made us a team so easy to play against because we’re one dimensional and devoid of ideas and his treatment of some players is absolutely disgusting.
He has given no players the confidence to play…he’s constantly belittling their abilities and chooses lesser skilled players over more skillful because they know rightly that no other manager would pick them and they’ll do everything he says regardless.
He refused to blood new players and relied solely on completely inefficient crap players like whelan, greene, cox, mc shane and only decided to bring new players in under duress from the public or through injury…he’s a travesty, a stubborn fool and has done nothing to help this team improve.
John I agree he has been poor tactically but the problems run way way deeper than Trap. I can just see it now. Public witch hunt. Pitch forks at the ready. New man comes in and a fresh sheet of paper to cover the cracks. Trap did what he did and was relatively successful. I think you are overplaying the ‘luck’ factor in qualifying somewhat. Nearly all teams have blips at international level. He brought us from a defensive shambles into a team who was pretty hard to beat and got us to a major. For me that is a result and I will always have great memories of an amazing summer in Poland. So thank you Trap.
Dermot you are way over the top.
Extremely harsh on James Mcclean. I think his work ethic and determination was brilliant last night. When he picked up the ball he wanted to run at defenders and his cross, lucky as it was, almost resulted in a goal. Also put in a few crunching tackles too, if more players had of done the same around the midfield then we’d have been smiling today with three points.
Time to bring in Roy Keane or Brendan rogers
Having attended last night’s match, I don’t really think we have the players or the Manager. Keane, Long and McClean worked so hard but the midfield is weak and the plethora of back-passes shows a lack of confidence on the ball. Coleman was well off-colour last night too. Pity.
A lack of confidence instilled by the manager.
To say we ain’t good enough is crap in Sweden we could of pushed on and won at home to Austria we should of won , last night we should of won although Germany are better they ain’t 6 goals better. It’s the manger and his outdated tactics he ain’t able for the modern game and should just retire. But the fai are worse basically depending on the fa to bring up Irish kids when they are young . Sack the fai and trap to many Failures
This load of tripe starts with a multiple of presumptions and delusions in the head of the author.
The first being that we ever had a chance of qualifying other than on paper. Germany were always going to top the group, and after that it was going to be a shootout between ourselves, Sweden and Austria for second place. Even the most basic comparison of the standard of domestic soccer in the three countries shows how far behind we are.
Then there is the quality of the squad, the senior players, probably with the exception of John O Shea, that went to the Euros are either past it or were never good enough, the young players that are now in the team are still learning their trade at international level.
Several people have mentioned McClean, he did well for long enough but in the ten minutes before he was replaced he was out on his feet and needed to be replaced. In a few years when he grows up he will probably be able to last the full game and make a better contribution.
The delusion rests in the refusal to acknowledge that Sweden were the better and stronger team, and that they had in Ibrahimovic the only player of real class on the field. His pass to set up the winner was ofba level of quality that even the better Irish players can only dream of.
Trappatoni has his faults, and there are plenty here that will do a Dunphy and concentrate on them exclusively. But when he goes, he will leave his successor with much more than he inherited.
Seamus coleman was great to watch last night and richard dunne was outstanding. But with trap it seems to be the same thing every time. Im sick and tired of seein my national team being humbled by teams that we should be beating. TRAP OUT. O’NEILL IN.
Some local soccer and GAA teams at under 12 level see what’s going on and now have a line of communication where young lads want to play soccer and Gaelic football. There are some hugely talented young lads playing GAA every weekend who want to play soccer as well. Most GAA ffootballers are huge premiership fans. It’s the FAI who is at fault. They are not attracting the top talent in schools. Also just look at the work rate of the players between last night and the work rate of the players at the Dub/Kerry match on Sunday. Does that not tell you anything about the drain on soccer talent in this country and the problems we face as an international team? The Manchester population was only a guess. I stand corrected on the actual figure.
Great points Ger, expectations in this country are insane , every single manager gets hounded out of the job as if he’s Satan , mc carthy , kerr(2-0 up at home to Israel , takes off a striker for a midfielder and we drew) stan(he was bad ) and now trap , people mentioning Martin o Neil ? Chris hughton? Owen coyle? 1. Would they walk away from day to day management to take an international side ? 2. Would they even take Ireland ? And to try and be optimistic , it’s a long shot to come second now , but in 88 did Gary makaay not score to get an unexpected result to help us qualify , in to Vienna for a must win , COYBIG
Rio will host the Olympics in 2016. Brazil will host the World Cup. If Ireland play the World Cup that doesnt even mean they would play in Rio anyway…
I’ve been there yesterday and irish team has many flaws.. but I would love to see them in Brazil.
Martin O’Neill FTW
what’s the point in having midfielders if you’re going to bypass them for 90 mins
I’m a bit confused. You’ve talked about how Irish players are good enough to beat Sweden, yet then you’ve gone out and slated over half of the players who played last night. So which is it? We’re either good enough, or we’re not. If we are then we can’t have that many players are completely mediocre in your opinion.
Also, what’s with the ludicrous double standards in this piece? According to you Anthony Stokes should be starting because he’s our only Champions League representative this year. However, then you go on to talk about how Sweden are poor because they only have a lowly Celtic defender in there. Lustig has played every game for Celtic this season, Stokes has not. So, if you’re going to talk about how great Stokes is you can’t go and badmouth Lustig for the level he’s playing at, it just highlights utter stupidity.
Paul McShane too. Premier League defender. Apparently not good enough for the international level. If Trap leaves out any other players in the premiership (look at Westwood) he gets absolutely slated. So, what is it you want then? Arguments can’t apply to certain players and then not apply to others just because it suits what you want to say.
I actually agree with a lot of what you say, but you can’t use the same argument to highlight both how good an Irish player is, and how poor a Swedish player is, and then use an argument to justify the selection of one player over another while ignoring the very same argument when it comes to the selection of two different players.
With respect, I never said Stokes should be starting. I merely asserted he would be a better alternative on the bench than Sammon.
Granted, it’s sometimes difficult for Trap to pick an all-Premier League XI, but he needs to apply more common sense to his selection policy, which means picking players who are starting regularly at a high level (which McShane is not) or who have at least shown promise in the past for Ireland (e.g. Hoolahan). It’s the patent lack of common sense in his thinking that is the main issue.
As for Sweden, the point I was trying to make was that, in many ways, they should be the model on which Ireland base themselves i.e. they have a team of players who are (largely) unexceptional, yet they manage to qualify for most international tournaments.
Why has Signor Trot-a -Pony lasted so long??
I’d love to give Eamon dumphy manger,see how he does it
If glen whelan is a football well then I’m an astronaut. And I’m not an astronaut
Wonder why we won’t qualify ? Just ask yourself how many of those players would make it onto another country’s first team ? Exactly !!
Trap can’t make a silk purse out of a sours ear.
Brilliantly written piece
Nail on the head
Trap best manager since Jack Charlton. As with Mick McCarthy the three managers that qualified us for competitions. The players failed with his game plan last night, so if there are two or three that would make the team different not necessarily better, why change the manager. After all Mr. Trappatoni has managed better club and country teams than those who judge him.
Ireland havent “had the players” since the 80s in fairness but we have continued to punch our weight because of managers who got the best out what he had and the passion of the team. Trap improved Ireland from the days of Staunton but in fairness, who wouldnt. But he hasnt made the best of what he has. We were lucky to qualify for the Euros, remember the match in Moscow where Russia could have put 7 past us if it wasnt for Dunne and co. And or play off against the “might” of Estonia. Any of the other play off teams would have beaten us.
Trap has never picked his strongest team, not once, partly because of stubbornness and largely because of his management style ( falling to attend matches and falling out with players who didnt agree with his methods ) If we had Darren Gibson Stephen Ireland, Delany, Andy Reid, Stephen Reid, Antony Stokes in the squad in the past few years instead of Paul Green, Whelan, McShane, Sammon Cox then we would have been plenty good enough to take 2nd spot in this group.
We have far better players qualified to play for Ireland than either Austria or Sweden currently have but our manager doesnt pick them or falls out with them. And he has no plan b. Its time for him to go….and I think it should be after the Austria game if we dont get a win….give the new guy time to settle in. I would be on the phone to Mick McCarthy who I think would jump at the chance to come back even tho he is employed at the moment. Martin O’Neill would be my second choice.
Thoughts on Friday’s game if anyone’s interested…..
http://afalsefirstxi.blogspot.ie/2013/09/the-winner-takes-it-all-loser-has-to.html
EL TEL. Don’t be listening to Eammon Grumphy.Twas him that done Venables out of getting the Ireland job and let’s face it he couldn’t have done much worse.Great man manager, very clever tactically and great character too.Anyone who has played under him say he Is a fantastic manager.
Darren Gibson refused to play for Ireland and mc lean was the only irish good player until he was taken off.why we continue to play Shane long is a mystery.the only time he scores is in 4-0 wins over Georgia or whatnot.
Not a fan of sammon but he ain’t a reserve he scored last week