Martin O’Neill faced his first competitive match as the Republic of Ireland manager against Georgia and he came out successful after a 2-1 win at home. This victory gives a lot of belief to Ireland that they can once again qualify for the European championships. Even though they were disappointing at the Euro 2012, some see qualification itself as a major success for a team like Ireland that does not have a large pool of quality players. Everton winger Aiden McGeady was the star of the show after scoring two goals in the match including a late winner.
The injury time goal sees Ireland start the qualification campaign with a win, which was extremely important. This victory is made even better by the fact that it was an away match. Ireland still have tougher opponents coming up in the next few qualifying matches. O’Neill’s team will be travelling to face Germany and Scotland before the end of this year. The former Aston Villa manager has been wishing for a competitive match for a long time. Since he was appointed months before the World Cup, Ireland have only been playing in friendly matches.
McGeady scored the opening goal after 24 minutes before Ireland suffered a setback through Okriashvili’s equaliser in the 38th minute. “He was the only player on the field that was scoring the goal. He really is a fantastic talent. He probably thinks at this age he should have been up there with the very finest players. He has that talent and he showed that tonight. We scored a goal got a goal in front, and we were at our most comfortable when they equalised. It changed the complexion and momentum of the game. There was moments in the second half when it might have been worrying for us, but we’ve seen it through,” said O’Neill.
