Ireland vs. Wales, international friendly, full time report
The Republic of Ireland went on to host Wales in the opening match, of the inaugural Carling Nations Cup, which took place at the Aviva Stadium.
Gary Speed, the Wales manager was looking to get the win on the night and tried to boast a near full strength Wales side.
On the other hand Giovanni Trapattoni went on to hand Seamus Coleman and Ciaran Clark their debuts for Ireland, after the duo displayed some brilliant form in the Premier League.
The line-ups for the night were as follows:
Wales: Hennessey, Eardley, D, Collins, J, Collins, Ricketts, Crofts, Vaughan, King, Robson-Kanu, Church, Earnshaw.
Subs: Brown, Gunter, Easter, Eastwood, Ledley, Williams, Dorman, Blake, Vokes, Nyatanga, Price
Rep of Ireland: Given, O'Shea, St, Ledger, Dunne, Clark, Coleman, Whelan, Gibson, Duff, Walters, Doyle.
Subs: Westwood, Green, Keogh, Wilson, Kelly, Long, Fahey, O'Dea
Right from the kick-off, Ireland looked to dominate the game. However, despite the team's domination in the opening forty-five minutes, they only managed to create two clear chances.
On the 5th minute, Damien Duff went rather close to giving the home-side the lead as he went on to drift in from the left flank and drill a shot on goal, which managed to miss the pot by inches.
The next chance of the first half fell Kevin Doyle's way on the 35th minute. Shay Given launched a ball up-field and the striker managed to reach the ball before anyone else. He then went on to shoot towards the Wales goal, but his tame effort was easily gathered by Hennessey.
The second proved to be a much more eventful one, as all the goals of the game came during the second half.
The half picked up on a positive note as Ireland were once again looking to attack Wales and once again it was Duff, who was at the ear of all the early chances.
However, in the 60th minute, it was Darron Gibson, who unleashed an unstoppable drive from twenty-five yards out and managed to find the back of the net with his brilliant effort.
Just seven minutes later, it was Ireland's man of the hour, Duff, who scored the second goal of the night. Walters managed to catch Gunter off guard and then went on to dash down the left flank. The ball was then squared to Duff, who lashed onto the ball and smacked it into the back of the net from nearly six yards out. As a result of the goal, Ireland doubled their lead on the night.
On the 82nd minute, Keith Fahey struck a near impossible-to-save free-kick that beat the Wales wall and flew into the far post, after comprehensively having Hennessey beaten in between the posts.
As the match progressed, it seemed Wales were trying their best to not concede any more goals, as they gave up on attacking the Irish goal all together. On the other hand, the home-side continued to take the game to the Welsh as they tried to look for an opening to score a fourth goal.
Nonetheless, Ireland couldn't manage to find a way past the Welsh in the dying stages of the game as the game eventually came to a close with the score-line reading three goals to nil in favour of the home-side.
Tags: