Late own goal gives Kenny’s Ireland a second consecutive draw at the Aviva
Daire Walsh
For the second time in the space of four days, a late goal earned the Republic of Ireland senior men’s team a 1-1 draw in Group A of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers this evening.
Whereas Shane Duffy headed home against Azerbaijan in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday to spare the blushes of Stephen Kenny’s side, a Nikola Milenković own goal in the 86th-minute secured the Boys In Green a share of the spoils with Serbia.
Pressure has mounted on Tallaght man Kenny in recent days and while there was a severe element of fortune surrounding Ireland’s goal in this contest, this will go down as an extremely positive result on a night when 25,000 spectators were present at Lansdowne Road.
What will please Kenny in particular is the performance of his two 19-year-old starters – Andrew Omobamidele and Firhouse native Gavin Bazunu.
A former Shamrock Rovers underage and senior star, Bazunu was named player of the match following a string of impressive saves and some excellent distribution throughout.
Kenny has placed his trust in the precocious shotstopper since last March’s defeat to Luxembourg, but he was helpless in his quest to prevent Sergej Milinković-Savić heading a corner to the net on the stroke of 20 minutes.
In spite of Ireland’s unquestionable endeavour, Serbia continued to pose a significant attacking threat.
Bazunu was on hand to deny Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrović and Filip Kostić as the first half drew to a close.
1-0 adrift at the break, Ireland were facing the prospect of a fourth defeat in five qualifier games.
This remained the case moving into the final-quarter, by which point Kenny had introduced Callum Robinson, Daryl Horgan and Jayson Molumby off the bench.
Aside from Milinković-Savić’s opener, Bazunu was continuing to be a thorn in the side of Serbia.
Mitrović was struggling to find a way past the opposition netminder and even when he was caught out of position 13 minutes from time, James McClean was on cue to clear the danger.
Kostić’s shot at the end of a blistering break was turned away by Bazunu and with the final whistle approaching, the crowd got behind Ireland in their search for a winner.
The big moment then arrived with four minutes of normal time, when goalscorer Milinković-Savić’s attempted clearance rebounded off his team-mate Milenković and ended up in the net.
Buoyed by this equaliser, Ireland pushed hard for a dramatic victory. Duffy had a header that just cleared the woodwork and an Omobamidele strike from distance was superbly stopped by Serbian custodian Predrag Rajković.
Kenny’s search for a first competitive win may still be ongoing more than a year into his reign, but his squad can at least embark on the remainder of the group with renewed confidence.