“We were accommodating young Doherty as much as anything else.”
The Republic of Ireland and Denmark played out a goalless draw on Saturday night in Dublin.
The Uefa Nations League fixture was so dull it made you long for the days of meaningless friendlies. At least with a friendly, people would have known in advance that the match would be a non-event. This was meant to be a competitive fixture.
Without Christian Eriksen, who missed the match with injury, Denmark didn’t pose much threat. And there were very few moments of quality from either side.
Ireland are now happy to be mediocre and it looks like we better get used to it | @RobRedmond10 https://t.co/tKo4KYwn2g
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 13, 2018
Ireland made six changes from their last competitive fixture, a 4-1 loss to Wales in Cardiff last month. Matt Doherty was one of the players to come into the team.
The Wolves wing-back has been in brilliant form for his club and recently won the PFA Player of the Month award. He didn’t set the world alight on his competitive debut for Ireland, but very few players stood out on the night.
According to Martin O’Neill, he tried to “accommodate” Doherty.
He said that Ireland were “trying to make it as easy for him as possible” – even though Doherty is a Premier League footballer playing with distinction for a very good team.
“We were accommodating young Doherty as much as anything else,” O’Neill said.
“We were trying to make it as easy for him as possible. He has played in a number of positions for Wolves. And in his debut in front of his home crowd competitively, we wanted to try and make it as easy for him as possible.”
It’s difficult to see how playing for this Ireland team could be considered a step-up from Wolves. Yet, that’s how O’Neill appeared to view it.
His remarks about Doherty were arguably condescending and in stark contrast to his comments on Cyrus Christie.
The Fulham full-back played in central midfield against Denmark and according to the Ireland manager, he played brilliantly.
“I thought he was terrific, I thought he did very, very well indeed,” O’Neill told reporters after the match.
“It’s not a problem to him. I have obviously got a lot of faith in him as a player. He’s athletic, strong and even though he doesn’t always play at Fulham, he keeps himself in really good condition. He has personal trainers, personal coaches, he loves football.
“He has played full-back for me, he played wing-back, he’s played right-wing as well and he played in the middle. And I thought he did things very well indeed.
“Also, of course, he would help young Doherty as well, I thought that was important.”
Christie is nine months younger than “young” Doherty.
“(Pione)Â Sisto playing on that side might definitely cause us a few problems and Cyrus was the first one out to him and I thought he did well on that,” O’Neill continued.
“He also had a splendid shot on goal parried away by the goalkeeper. So I was very pleased with him.”
Ireland play Wales on Tuesday at the Aviva Stadium.
It’ll be interesting to see what position O’Neill starts Christie in for that match. Maybe he is the answer to the team’s goalscoring woes and he’ll play up front.
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