In turn, the Republic of Ireland, was able to prove himself good at the last European Championship in France.
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62′ – GOAL! Serbia 1-1 Republic of Ireland.
Guilty of constantly giving away possession, Ireland finished the first half with woeful statistics of 38% possession and a paltry 66 completed passes.
But the good news is that O’Neill has cleared both Seamus Coleman and John O’Shea to play and will pick from a full deck for tonight’s Russian Federation 2018 opener against Serbia in the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade.
The game was barely three minutes old at that stage but it still seemed to shake up a Serbia side who dominated most of the of the half and caused Ireland quite a few problems from wide positions without ever being able to produce the finish they needed.
Daryl Murphy scored for the Republic of Ireland against Serbia on Monday. Mission accomplished but it was far from convincing.
“Norway made the play-offs for the Euros, so they’ll believe they’re capable of finishing in second spot”.
Bottom line, the chance to gain an early advantage over Wales and Austria was squandered against an ordinary Serbian side missing Nemanja Vidic and Nemanja Matic.
The midfielder bagged his first global goal after just three minutes against the Serbs, showing great composure to score from a half volley in rainy Belgrade with his shot taking a welcome deflection off Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.
After the break, it took some time for either side to threaten again in front of goal, but Serbia remained the more unsafe outfit going forward.
Ireland made a great start when Robbie Brady’s second-minute free-kick was parried by Predrag Rajkovic and John O’Shea’s cross bounced to Hendrick, whose shot found its way past the goalkeeper via the leg of Ivanovic.
Picked for his graft in defence and the threat offered by his pace on the counter-attack, but while the former was, as ever, apparent in abundance, he didn’t live up to his usual standards going forward and his link-up play with Shane Long frequently offered the Southampton striker little to work with. Serbia are very obviously a team in transition, with new boss Slavoljub Muslin making eight changes to the side that started 2-1 home defeat to Portugal in their final Euro 2016 qualifier in October 2015.
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Dunphy added that Wes Hoolahan has been “abused” in some ways by Martin O’Neill, indicating the manager was “reluctant to start him”, and explaining that the Norwich man should have featured.
