A goal from Shane Long saw Ireland defeat world champions Germany on one of the most famous nights in Irish sport.
Ireland are now guaranteed at least a play-off place in the race to qualify for Euro 2016 - and victory over Poland on Sunday we see automatic qualification
Before our attention turns to Warsaw, we take a look at the key stats that tell the story of a memorable victory.
If we look at the average position of each player’s touches we can see just how much Germany pressed forward. While only five of the 14 players used by Ireland touched the ball more often in their visitors’ half than their own, all but two of Germany’s players saw more of the ball in the Irish half of the pitch.
Ireland emerged victorious despite an incredibly dominant performance by the world champions, who completed over three times as many passes on the night. The home side’s most prolific passer, Jonathan Walters with 33, completed the ninth most overall: there were eight German players who strung together more, but to no avail.
Ireland saw less of the ball against Germany during these qualifiers than they in turn allowed minnows Gibraltar. Almost three quarters of possession over the two matches with the world champions was in their favour, yet they were unable to beat the Irish in either of their encounters and could still finish third after Sunday’s games.
With Germany taking over three times as many shots, this was truly a night which required discipline and precision at both ends of the pitch for Ireland. While Shane Long supplied it at one end, the Irish defence delivered at the other, with four saves and three blocks keeping out the efforts that their visitors managed to steer on target.
When the numbers were being crunched to work out how Ireland could still qualify, most people were focused on a win against Poland but few allowed for the possibility of beating Germany here. However Martin O’Neill’s side have taken more points off the reigning world champions than everyone else in Group D combined, and can now legitimately target automatic qualification at the Germans’ expense.
