Ireland escape unbeaten and uninjured
04/06/2012 - 21:57:53
Hungary 0 Republic of Ireland 0
By Brendan O'Brien, Budapest
Ireland's lengthy unbeaten run survived intact in the Hungarian capital on Monday night.
More importantly, so did all 23 players.
Avoiding injury was paramount just six days before the Group C opener against Croatia and Giovanni Trapattoni's men achieved just that in front of a sparse crowd as well as Slaven Bilic who will hope to mastermind an Irish defeat next Sunday.
Shay Given and John O'Shea were the players most in need of game time after recent injury concerns.
The Aston Villa goalkeeper made a handful of good saves – one of them exceptional – before making way for Keiren Westwood on the interval.
A number of them were forced by left-winger Balazs Dzsudzsak, the man signed for €19m by Dinamo Moscow recently and who lined up opposite John O'Shea who was road-testing his recently departed ankle problem.
The game began 20 minutes later than advertised after a deluge of rain, thunder and lightning that left a calling card in the form of a slippery surface that may actually have helped make for what was a livelier than expected 90 minutes.
Hungary failed to qualify for Euro 2012 and impending summer vacations seemed to be on their minds early on with Ireland offered a handful of chances thanks to some slack passing in their own half but they soon steeled to the task.
The result was a plethora of chances at both ends.
John O'Shea and Robbie Keane had efforts on goal but Given was much the busier of the two stoppers and one of his saves – a parry from a defelcted Dzsudzsak save – was plucked from the top drawer.
There were a couple of other heart-in-mouth moments in the opening period with Glenn Whelan and Stephen Ward staying on the ground after shipping a bang on the ear and kick to the right leg respectively but both arose bruised rather than battered.
The only surprise at half-time was that the giant Soviet-era-sized scoreboard still read 'Magyarorszag 0-0 Irorszag' and both goals continued to lead a charmed life on the restart as both managers emptied their benches.
Westwood followed Given's earlier brilliance with a superb save from a deflected Adam Szalai effort while Jonathan Walters demanded some dexterity from Adam Bogdan who turned his low, scuttling effort away from danger after 62 minutes.
Walters had another chance when turning a clear header wide but it required a Stephen Hunt clearance off the line to prevent a late winner for the Magyars.
So, it's 14 games without defeat for the Irish who departed for Gdansk on a charter flight immediately after this appointment.
Not long now...
Hungary: A Bogdan, J Varga, A Gyurcso, N Meszaros, Z Korcsmar, P Halmosi, B Dzsudzsak, A Pinter, A Szalai, P Szakaly, V Koman.
Substitutes: V Vilmos for Pinter (45); T Kadar for Halmosi (70); K Nemeth for Szalai (79); T Koltai for Gyurcso (87).
Republic of Ireland: S Given; J O'Shea, S St Ledger, R Dunne, S Ward; D Duff, G Whelan, K Andrews, A McGeady; K Doyle, R Keane.
Substitutes: J Walters for Doyle (45); K Westwood for Given (45); S Cox for Keane (61); S Hunt for Duff (63); D Gibson for Andrews (60).
Referee: K Hansen (Denmark).
Click to stay connected with
more stories like this:
more stories like this:
