Shane Long keeps alive Republic of Ireland hopes in win over Germany

Posted Friday, October 09, 2015 by theguardian.com

Shane Long keeps alive Republic of Ireland hopes in win over Germany
Shane Long scores for Republic of Ireland, soon after coming off the bench in their Euro 2016 qualifier against Germany.

Shane Long came off the bench to fire the Republic of Ireland to a historic victory over the world champions and guarantee Martin O’Neill’s team a place in the Euro 2016 play-offs at least. But why should they settle for that now they have shown they are capable of victories like this? On Sunday they will duel with Poland in Warsaw for automatic qualification.

"I’m ecstatic to win – you’d think that would at least be deserving of winning the tournament," joked a jubilant O’Neill. "But it’s not the case and we haven’t even qualified." A win on Sunday, or even a high-scoring draw, would complete the job. Germany would have been through with a draw in Dublin but they too face an intense final game, although they are unlikely to drop points at home to Georgia.

Then again, it had seemed unlikely they would drop points in Dublin. You could almost hear a gulp go around a packed Aviva Stadium before kick-off as home fans considered the lineups. Injuries and suspensions forced O’Neill to make four changes to the side who edged past Georgia last month, with the Ipswich Town striker Daryl Murphy and the Burnley left-back Stephen Ward surprising inclusions. Ward’s only action this season had been in a Capital One Cup defeat at Port Vale in August.

Eight of Germany’s starters triumphed in the last World Cup final.

Germany threatened to score after 21 seconds. Ward, however, proved his sharpness by getting his toe to a cross just before Thomas Müller could turn it into the net.

The hosts went forward when they got the ball but that was not often early on, as Germany made themselves at home. They sought to thrive down the left, in particular, with Marco Reus and Mario Götze taking early turns to test Cyrus Christie, the right-back gaining his third cap in place of the injured Seamus Coleman. The Irish strained manfully to keep track of the visitors’ cunning movement but were negligent in the eighth minute when Jerome Boateng was left free to meet a corner from eight yards out. He headed over.

John O’Shea was more vigilant moments later when he threw himself in front of a shot by Ilkay Gündogan after another piercing German move down the left. Richard Keogh then had to make a similar last-gasp intervention to cut out a cross from Matthias Ginter, Germany this time raiding down the right. Ireland were now being attacked from all angles. But their resistance was growing stronger.

Germany had to replace Götze with André Schürrle after 35 minutes and Ireland suffered another blow when Shay Given was carried off on a stretcher after twisting his knee. Darren Randolph, second-choice at West Ham, was thrust into the biggest game of his career. He, like his team-mates, rose to the challenge. But he was grateful that Mesut Özil shot wide when presented with a clear chance just before the referee blew for half-time and well-earned applause rung out for the home team’s defiance. A reprise of the draw that Ireland fought for in Gelsenkirchen a year ago was starting to look realistic.

Ireland re-emerged emboldened. Wes Hoolahan and James McCarthy grew in influence and German swagger was turned down a touch. At times Germany became downright flaky. As the crowd began to sense that a famous victory might be brewing came a reminder of the threat Ireland faced – Reus crossing for Schürrle, who volleyed wide from eight yards.

Murphy then went close, firing just wide after fine work by Hoolahan. The roar that greeted Long’s introduction in the 65th minute showed the home crowd felt their trump card was being played.

They were right. Five minutes later the striker scored the most important of his 14 goals for his country. Rushing on to a long kick by Randolph, he left defenders in his wake before walloping the ball past Manuel Neuer and into the net. Simple in its conception, superb in its execution.

Germany tried to restore order. Müller had a fine chance to do so in the 77th minute but blazed wide from 10 yards and dropped to his knees in incredulity. Ireland held firm to complete a win that few outside their dressing room had believed possible.

"To beat the world champions considering the things that we had to overcome was a fantastic effort by the players," O’Neill said.

Joachim Low said: "It was one of the most unnecessary defeats we’ve had to accept. They had one opportunity to score whereas we had many and got punished for missing them. We avoided 99 of those long balls but the 100th was just too many."

That was a slightly disingenuous account, for Ireland did show guile as well as guts. "He’s won the World Cup, he’s entitled to a fairly decent opinion,” O’Neill said. “But we were brilliant."