The Republic of Ireland beat Malta in their penultimate Group 8 Euro 2000 qualifying match in Valetta this evening. Ireland started the game briskly and Robbie Keane had scored his seventh senior international goal in 12 minutes. Further Irish pressure produced a second goal finished by Gary Breen with a low header. At 2 – 0 up by half-time, Ireland were obviously confident despite having come under some Maltese pressure combined with some sloppy play during the half.
The second half opened briskly and Malta refused to sit back and try to contain the damage. Then after 61 minutes an excellent volley by Brian Said left Kelly looking over his shoulder as the ball sailed into the net. On 67 minutes that setback turned into a nightmare as Malta won a penalty that was hit confidently to Kelly’s left. For the following 5 minutes the Irish crowd were relatively silent as they could not believe what had happened. Thankfully they had reason to burst into song again as Staunton stepped up and struck a free-kick past the Malta wall and their hapless ‘keeper Ernest Barry.
A tired looking Ireland played out the remainder of the game with little composure or threat to Malta and were lucky to hold on to the win as Kelly had to save on a number of occasions. It does however mean 3 points, and 6 from the last three games, leaving qualification to at least a play-off stage in our own hands against Macedonia in Skopje next month
