FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 QUALIFIER GROUP D
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1
GEORGIA 0
By Daire Walsh
A 55th-minute goal from Seamus Coleman was the difference between the teams at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday evening, when Republic of Ireland secured all three points in a tentative FIFA World Cup Qualifier Group D encounter with Georgia.
This was Coleman’s first goal for Ireland on the occasion of his 40th senior cap, and despite falling short of the standard required at international level for the majority of the game, the Boys In Green have nevertheless claimed a respectable four points from their opening two outings of the campaign.
Having sat out the Serbia game through suspension (arising from his dismissal in Ireland’s Round of 16 defeat to France at Euro 2016), Brighton & Hove Albion’s Shane Duffy replaced John O’Shea at the heart of the Irish defence.
O’Shea’s partner from the visit to Crvena Zvezda Stadium was Richard Keogh, but although he played alongside Duffy during the summer, Ciaran Clark was preferred to the Derby County man on this occasion. Clark (who has made seven appearances for Newcastle United since his move from fellow Championship outfit, Aston Villa, in August) was an 89th-minute substitute away to Serbia, but skipper Coleman and Stephen Ward were once again selected in the full-back positions.
A fully-fit James McCarthy took over from Glenn Whelan as the anchor of a three-man central midfield – he was flanked on either side by Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady – while Jonathan Walters and James McClean were expected to offer width alongside Southampton’s Shane Long in the home side’s attack.
Thanks in no small part to their recent friendly victory over Spain, Martin O’Neill was wary of the challenge posed by Georgia – who suffered a narrow 2-1 reversal to Austria in their opening game of the group. Their manager Vladimir Weiss is no stranger to the Ireland, as he was in charge of his native Slovakia when they faced the Boys In Green during the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
His son of the same name will also be familiar to many, as he had spells in the UK with Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Glasgow Rangers in the past. There was less than three minutes gone on the clock when Ireland broke the deadlock against Serbia, and the hosts managed to break into the Georgian box during the early exchanges.
There were a couple of penalty appeals when the likes of Shane Long and James McClean went down under tackles from the opposition back-four, but any claims were quickly waved away by French referee Tony Chapron.
With 35 caps to his name after tonight, netminder Giorgi Loria (formerly of Dinamo Tbilisi) is one of the most experienced players in the Georgian side, and he prevented Jonathan Walters from getting on the end of a James McClean knock down from a Coleman cross in the 13th-minute.
Yet, although it was hoped that Ireland would lay down a marker in their first home game of the group, they struggled to build any real momentum during the opening period. Indeed, Georgia enjoyed 56% of the possession in the opening 20 minutes of the play, and were close to finding a breakthrough on 16 minutes.
Marauding right-back Otar Kakabadze was found in space on the right-flank, and after turning sharply inside the area, Valeri Kazaishvili was just past Darren Randolph’s left-hand post with his subsequent effort.
While Georgia weren’t necessarily capitalising on their good passages of play initially, Ireland couldn’t exert themselves in the final-third of the pitch. James McClean found the net just beyond the half-hour mark, but after Duffy had clattered into Loria, a free-kick was correctly awarded.
There was already a sense that this could be a nervy evening for Ireland, and they received a massive let-off eight minutes before the interval – when they were twice saved by the woodwork. A bullet header from Mchedlidze crashed off the crossbar, and from the resulting rebound, a lopping attempt by captain Guram Kashia (who plys his trade with Vitesse Arnhem in the Eredivisie league) came off the right-hand post before eventually being cleared to safety.
Ireland were fortunate to emerge unscathed from this attack, and even though Walters was off-target from close-range, Randolph had to be on his toes to deny the onrushing Kazaishvili. He also parried a late strike from a tight-angle by Levan Mchedlidze, and with Georgia registering the only two shots on target throughout the course of the half, Ireland were lucky to be on level terms heading into the break.
There was massive scope for improvement from Ireland upon the resumption, and although there wasn’t any major sign of it arriving, they did ultimately break the deadlock ten minutes into the second-half. Coleman embarked on a brilliant run down on the right-wing, and after cutting inside, he tried to picked out one of his team-mates with a pass.
It didn’t quite fall into the path of one of his intended targets (Walters was aiming to get on the end of his delivery), but after the ball deflected off centre-half Solomon Kverkvelia, Coleman was on hand to poke it over the line with his left-foot from a couple of yards.
There was a sense of relief throughout the stadium from Irish fans following this goal, and it was clear that there was an increase in the tempo of Ireland’s play as a result. McClean once again had the ball in the Georgia net with an expertly-directed header 59 minutes in, but the offside flag prevented the West Bromwich Albion winger from recording a sixth senior international goal.
McClean is becoming a regular fixture in O’Neill’s starting line-up, and when he unleashed a powerful drive off his weaker right-foot on the stroke of 65 minutes, Loria had to claim the ball at the second time of asking.
Georgia, for their part, were not offering the same attacking threat, and the pace of Shane Long was beginning to stretch their defence to a degree. Long nodded the ball towards the Georgian six-yard box 14 minutes from the end of normal time, and Brady was agonisingly wide of the mark with a firm header.
However, Brady suffered a heavy collision in jumping for the ball with Kverkvelia, and while the Georgian defender was heavily bandaged for the remainder of the tie, the Norwich City star was stretchered off the field – to be replaced by Whelan.
The loss of Brady would be a blow for Ireland as they prepare for an away fixture with Moldova on Sunday, and Hendrick’s 83rd-minute yellow-card means he will be suspended for that game. The delay for the injuries to Brady and Kverkvelia led to a total of seven minutes of stoppage-time being announced at the end of the play, and this would have come as a boost to Georgia as they searched for an equaliser.
It was Ireland who were closest to finding the net in time added on, though when McClean was picked out by Walters from the right-wing. McClean was desperately unlucky to see his header rattling the crossbar, just as Georgia had done in the first-half.
In an effort to see the game out, O’Shea was introduced for his 116th cap (taking the place of Shane Long), and while there were some nervous moments for the Irish rearguard late on, they held out for their first win of the group.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Darren Randolph; Seamus Coleman, Shane Duffy, Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ward; Jeff Hendrick, James McCarthy, Robbie Brady (Glenn Whelan 81); Jonathan Walters, Shane Long (John O’Shea 94), James McClean.
Substitutes: Danny Rogers, Ian Lawlor, John O’Shea, Richard Keogh, Eunan O’Kane, Wes Hoolahan, Cyrus Christie, David Meyler, Paul McShane, Jonny Hayes, Alex Pearce.
GEORGIA: Giorgi Loria; Otar Kakabadze, Solomon Kverkvelia, Guram Kashia, Giorgi Navalovski (Aleksandre Kobakhidze 89); Murtaz Daushvili (Nika Katcharava 93), Valerian Gvilia; Tornike Okriashvili, Valeri Kazaishvili, Jano Ananidze (Davit Skhirtladze 73); Levan Mchedlidze.
Substitutes: Roin Kvaskhvadze, Giorgi Makaridze, Lasha Dvali, Vladimir Dvalishvili, Giorgi Kvilitaia, Lasha Parunashvili, Zurab Tsiskaridze, Jambul Jigauri, Giorgi Papunashvili.
Referee: Tony Chapron (France).