Robbie Brady gets a great goal for Ireland on the counter.
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Bosnia lost their previous sole play-off appearance to Portugal in 2012 while Ireland have lost two and won one of their Euro play-offs over the years.
Now, the brightest star of the new generation of Irish internationals is determined to make his own mark on a major tournament.
But Robbie Brady’s 81st-minute strike, combined with a few determined defending, saw them return to Dublin’s Lansdowne Road with a vital away goal, although there was still time on Friday for Bosnia’s Edin Dzeko to equalise.
Elliot was outstanding in Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, and Roy Keane, Republic of Ireland manager O’Neill’s assistant, said it was “ironic” that players are often adjudged to be injured when they are due to meet up with their global team-mates.
“I don’t think we can sit – we were away tonight against a very good Bosnia side and obviously against the crowd, but we will attempt to attack more during the course of the second game”.
“If we had a fully fit squad I may not have started, but I was happy to go out there and give it my best”.
We knew the way they played, but they surprised us a bit and went four up front right from the off so we were penned in a bit.
But there was more than a dose of realism from Brady amid his optimistic post-match outlook.
The home side brought on forward Milan Duric on 73 minutes, as they hunted for an elusive goal in the game, but their opposition were firm and resilient in defence. “The team is more important than any individual and if I play or am called upon, I’ll be more than ready”. You have to work very hard to stop them with the quality that they have but hopefully we’ll be able to do that on Monday.
Fans – not to mention the players, press and media – struggled to see all of the pitch. “I am still an optimist and I always am and I think we may, if we play better and have a better attitude, we can have a better game in the second leg”.
“The ball got kicked up from Randolph and it just skipped through the centre-back and I thought I had a chance of getting on the end of it so I caught up with it and came inside to put it back across the near side of the goalie”.
“He’s my room-mate on Ireland trips and it’s fantastic for me to see him deliver on the big stage, too”. The conditions were tough. “Thankfully for me, Darren (Randolph) was able to just scoop it up but it was a pretty heart-stopping moment”.
The first leg finished 1-1 in Zenica on Friday night, a freakish game played in a dense fog that threatened to bring the game to a premature halt.
Bosnia-Herzegovina created three half-chances in the first period.
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“We had decent possession but we couldn’t quite get it going”, he said.
