Rep. of Ireland 3 - 0 Wales

• Cathal Breathnach
• Tue, Feb 08 2011


Ireland ran out comfortable 3-0 winners against Wales on Tuesday night in the opening game of the Carling Nations Cup at the Aviva Stadium.

Darron Gibson scored the opening goal of the night with an absolute screamer just before the hour mark. The Manchester United midfielder’s 25-yard strike gave Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey simply no chance as it flew into the top right corner.

Damien Duff doubled Ireland’s advantage just minutes after Gibson’s spectacular opener. Jonathan Walters did well to get the ball across to Duff who made no mistake from all of six-yards out.

Then with seven minutes to go, substitute and former St Pat's star Keith Fahey put the game beyond Wales' reach with a superb free-kick from just outside the visitors penalty area.

In what was a rather dull first-half, neither side really managed to control proceedings. Ireland’s Glen Whelan had the first real chance of the game with just two minutes on the clock, but his effort went just over the bar.

Man of the Match on the night, Damien Duff, almost got Ireland off to a very good start when the Fulham winger’s cross-cum-shot scraped the outside of Hennessey’s left-hand post.

Robert Earnshaw’s 32nd minute free-kick was the first real chance of the game for the visitors. However, unfortunately for the travelling fans, he could only manage to strike it high over Shay Given’s crossbar.

The best chance of the half came in the 39th minute for Ireland. Seamus Coleman was impressive on his first outing in the senior team and he curled a delightful ball onto the head of fellow debutant Ciaran Clark, but the defender's header went just wide of the left-hand post.

Shane Long, who was introduced at half-time in place of former Reading team-mate Kevin Doyle, almost opened the scoring just after the break. His powerful shot went just over Hennessey’s crossbar.

Ireland finally got the goal they deserved on the hour mark though, through Gibson’s wonder-strike. The Welsh almost equalised minutes later, but Given did well to save Simon Church’s 20-yard effort.

From there on in, it was all Ireland. Once Duff doubled the side’s lead in the 67th minute, it was a case of how many, not if, Ireland would win by. Fahey added the third and final goal to send the meagre attendance home happy.

All in all, Ireland were full value for their 3-0 win. This was Wales boss Gary Speed’s first game in charge and by the looks of it, he has a lot of work to do with the players at his disposal.

Next up for the Boys in Green is a crucial Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia, while Wales have the small matter of a qualifier against neighbours England to come in March.

Ireland: S.Given, J.O’Shea (D.O’Dea 85’), C.Clark, R.Dunne, S.St.Ledger, S.Coleman (K.Fahey 45’), D.Duff (A.Keogh 71’), D.Gibson (M.Wilson 81’), G.Whelan (P.Green 76’), J.Walters, K.Doyle (S.Long 45’)
Unused subs: K.Westwood, S.Kelly

Wales: W.Hennessey, N.Eardley (C.Gunter 45’), S.Ricketts (L.Nyatanga 83’), J.Collins, D.Collins, D.Vaughan, H.Robson-Kanu (F.Eastwood 68’), A.Crofts, A.King, S.Church, R.Earnshaw (J.Easter 80’)
Unused subs: J.Brown, A.Williams, J.Ledley, A.Dorman, D.Blake, S.Vokes, L.Price

Referee: Mark Courtney (Northern Ireland)
Attendance: 20,900
Extratime Man of the Match: Damien Duff