The whole of Lansdowne Road thought the referee was pointing to the centre circle to signal the winner for Ireland.
He wasn’t. He had issued a free kick. He was confirming that, once again, Ireland were going to draw a home game they should be winning and they were going to draw it 1-1.
It’s always 1-1.
Shane Duffy had a late goal chalked off for leading with his arm as Martin O’Neill’s side desperately and literally tried to just force a ball, any ball, into the net. Jon Walters was denied a penalty after that.
James McClean on the performance of the referee: "You tell me. They had a 12th man today." pic.twitter.com/f0rpxyqkja
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 11, 2017
That fueled the post-game narrative.
Instead of talking about the performance or the genuine slip-up, instead of talking about the nerves or the fear to just go and beat an average Austria side, players and coaches were given ammunition to unload on the referee and blame him. And why wouldn’t they?
When all is said and done, Ireland probably should’ve won this game. That’s how Cyrus Christie felt anyway.
“I think the ref’s made an awful decision there at the end, it was definitely a goal,” the right back said afterwards.
“Even Jonny Walters should’ve had a penalty as well I think, but that’s the way it is sometimes.”
The Derby player doubled down soon after when he was pressed on the issue again.
“We were all a bit downhearted [after the game] because we feel we should’ve won,” he said.
“The ref’s decision there at the end, he kind of bottled that decision. It was definitely a goal – we watched it back.
“Then Jonny Walters going clean through on goal and they bring him down.”
What stood out most though was the positive spin the Irish camp put on the game. It’s understandable, of course it is, but it doesn’t make it easier to accept.
This was not a good performance and, if anything, Martin O’Neill’s men were lucky to come away with a point.
Perhaps we’re naive, perhaps we don’t respect that we’re Ireland and we have to fight for everything and all the usual undermining stereotypes that come with that attitude but this was a second drawn home game in a row that was there to be won.
The opposition were not good but Ireland didn’t seem to care. And, once more, two points went begging with trips to Wales and Georgia to come, with Serbia still to play.
“We managed to get a point and, at the end of it, we keep the gap between Austria [and Ireland],” Christie reminded the press.
But, with Wales playing Serbia, this was a chance for Ireland to push on and to stop, for once, worrying about fourth and third bloody place.
They were joint top before Sunday, automatic qualification in their own hands but, yet again, the predisposition is to look over the shoulder and not get ahead of ourselves.
“This team is full of confidence. There’s a lot of passion in this team and the team spirit gets us through a lot,” Christie said before talking up the long ball tactics – perhaps another insight into the mentality that we don’t go out to dominate teams like Austria.
“It made us a bit better [the tactical switch to 4-4-2] – he put Jonny Walters and McClean up front and then Murphs came on and we caused them problems. We bullied them up there. We adapted better to the 4-4-2 than the 4-5-1.”
He did, however, clarify that Ireland should just go out and get the results they need and stop worrying about everyone else.
“There are a lot of games left and a lot of football still to be played. We just need to concentrate on ourselves, not focus on anyone else, and pick up the results.”
Anything to get away from the media and get off for the summer, eh?
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