By Ed Leahy
It could be a record-breaking evening as Ireland host Gibraltar in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers at Aviva Stadium, kick-off 5.00pm.
Thirty-odd years have passed since Ireland beat Malta 8-0 at Dalymount Park in the EURO 1984 qualifiers but that record could be blown out of the water as the part-timers from the Iberian promontory arrive in Dublin.
Gibraltar are the latest “nation” to be accepted into the UEFA family and while they travel with no real aspirations of a victory in Dublin, they have produced a couple of decent results in recent years as they gained their international wings.
Draws with Estonia and Slovakia were surpassed by a victory over Malta and while hardly notable, they have certainly moved on from their Island Games days where they might struggle to get the better of the Shetlands or the mighty Isle of Wight .
As for Ireland manager Martin O’Neill, well, he is keeping it very professional and diplomatic in front of the media, but surely he has both eyes trained on Tuesday’s clash with World Cup winners Germany in Gelsenkirchen.
The Ireland boss is too smart to come out and say that his side will smash their opponents, and the angle he decided upon was that the Gibraltarians would be difficult to break down as they gave Poland a lot of cause for concern in their opening group match.
Those words might be worth taking note of but for the fact that Poland went on to hammer Gibraltar 7-0 without any real difficulty.
Of course, Gibraltar will arrive with a game plan and tactics that even Giovanni Trapattoni might deem negative, such will be the ring of steel set out around the away side’s penalty box.
And it might take Ireland a while to work it out, entice them into the midfield and drag them out of position, but it will happen, and then it should happen at regular intervals.
Gibraltar will probably hold their shape for the first one, two or three goals conceded, as a narrow-margin defeat would be a huge achievement for Allen Bula’s side. But if Ireland score early, then that Maltese scoreline could and should be matched and bettered.
One thing that O’Neill said that is worth noting, is his opinion that Ireland are not good enough to be complacent.
Again, this is O’Neill looking towards the Germany match and making sure that his players don’t get carried away with a big victory with such an important game to play so soon after the Gibraltar match.
O’Neill’s regime appears to have brought about big improvements in the Ireland squad’s team-spirit and while not many pundits were overly impressed with a scrappy 2-1 away win in Georgia, the result and the manner of the victory appears to have galvanised the group further.
“There was such a high of winning the game, we could have almost flown back without the plane,” said the Ireland boss.
And there is no reason why that team spirit will be dampened in the coming days as the Gibraltar fixture will allow the Ireland players to gain valuable game time with a moral-boasting victory the most likely scenario.
O’Neill doesn’t need his side to go breaking records at the Lansdowne Road venue and he will probably use the competitive fixture to work on a formation that he believes he can replicate in tougher games.
The manager will not do anything drastic in terms of team selection or replace his defensive midfielders with an all-out-attacking approach. O’Neill will instead watch with interest as his side tries to break down a stubborn defence, which is something he might be looking at replicating in Germany.
With a near full squad to choose from, O’Neill’s big decisions will be who to bring in for injured Everton duo James McCarthy and Seamus Coleman, while the manager’s main concern will be avoidance of fresh injuries or needless bookings that could affect team selection later in the campaign.
As an aside, Brian Lenihan’s call-up to the international squad has highlighted two big issues with the current state of Irish football.
Firstly, it re-opens the debate as to why League of Ireland players are habitually overlooked when it comes to international selection – has Lenihan become a substantially better player over the wet weekend that he has been at Hull City?
While Lenihan is certainly a player who should step up to international level over the coming seasons, it could be argued that Shamrock Rovers’ Simon Madden or St Patrick’s Athletic’s Ger O’Brien would have been a much more sensible option if O’Neill was serious about taking a chance on an untested right back.
On that basis, it would appear that O’Neill is just bringing Lenihan into the set-up to get a look at him, now that he has reached the holy grail of the Premier League and is unlikely to give him a start in the vacant right-back position.
And Lenihan’s call-up does highlight the fact that Ireland are really struggling to produce quality full-backs with Seamus Coleman the only out and out full-back in the current set-up.
Both flanks bring serious issues for the Ireland manager as Marc Wilson is probably the second best full-back available but is unlikely to feature in that position under O’Neill, as he brings more to other areas of the park.
One player who will be anxious to cash in on the potential goal-fest is Ireland skipper Robbie Keane who can surely add another few notches on the already impressive Ireland bedpost.
Daryl Murphy has hit form with Ipswich and might get a look in with a view to being used in the Germany game as a better outlet for what will be an under-pressure Ireland side.
And while, officially, O’Neill might not be looking past this Gibraltar game at the clash with the world champions on Tuesday night, the rest of us are.
Verdict: Ireland (by five or more)
