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Gave it their best especially in first half ran out of ideas after break and kept kicking ball back to them, came down to one bad mistake and two poor penalty kicks. Northern Ireland got a bit overrun in second half against a decent Italy side.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2244 - 27/03/2026 16:01:47    2663511

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Replying To peiledoir20:  "You're an expert on soccer now Ms. Kennedy?"
There's plenty of them about today giving their tuppence worth. Probably wouldn't know Sheffield Wednesday from Shrove Tuesday.....

streaker (Galway) - Posts: 576 - 27/03/2026 16:31:19    2663514

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Replying To peiledoir20:  "World Cup Qualifier Play Off - "Let's make it about Mayo".

More Mayo Misery."
Not my intention, you misinterpreted my post by adding 2+2 and getting 5. Let's say any county screws up in a big game everyone comes down hard on that team. They are fellow Gaels and amateurs with full time jobs. Yet when a professional team looses we use every excuse possible to give them a free pass. I'm not anti soccer far from it. The rugby media and public fawning is worse for a team many of whom aren't even Irish and have failed repeatedly at the World Cup.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11988 - 27/03/2026 17:12:48    2663522

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Replying To HandballRef:  "I think if we had a squad full of quality Premier league players or top level European league players and they all underforned individually and collectively as a team, you could justify a much harsher critique. I don't think it's giving them a free pass, more of a reluctant acceptance of what level our National team is at. Some of our lads played well enough, close to as well as I've seen a few of them play really. Some poor performances too.

Its frustrating, but we punched above our weight for years. The reality now is nearly our whole squad play in the Chamoionship, a few in League One as well. Two regular outfield starters in the Premier League (Collins, O Brien). That's where we're at. Despite a lot of people here saying it was a poor Czech team, Czechia have lads playing in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga. Most of their team last night were playing Chamoions league or Europa League this season. As I said , it's not a free pass for our players, just a reluctant acceptance of the quality that's at our disposal."
A few former underage GAA players in that squad. O'Brien won an U14 hurling All Ireland with Cork and a talented underage boxer, won a national title.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8491 - 27/03/2026 17:36:02    2663524

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Replying To katser:  "Even with the game 2-1 to the Republic you always felt the Czechs would equalise and didn't feel confident the Republic would win in normal time, unlike Turkey, Denmark or Italy who once they score its game over because they can completely control the game and see it out.
Once I seen Browne stepping up to take a penalty I knew it was curtains for the Republic (his record at penalties is very poor)"
I don't think they looked like scoring at all to be honest. In spite of all the possession they had in the second half we still had the better of the chances. We hit the woodwork twice and forced their keeper to make an excellent save. I would say they were very lucky to get to a shootout on the balance of that 120 minutes.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4354 - 27/03/2026 20:27:30    2663538

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Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "We scored once but they scored 3times, really? Do you equate scoring own goals and actual goals in the one pot? A novel take, but does it make any sense?"
An og is an og simple as that. Who benefits from an og. ?

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3387 - 27/03/2026 20:32:40    2663539

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "I don't think they looked like scoring at all to be honest. In spite of all the possession they had in the second half we still had the better of the chances. We hit the woodwork twice and forced their keeper to make an excellent save. I would say they were very lucky to get to a shootout on the balance of that 120 minutes."
The Republic will regret this opportunity for a long time....2-0 up with destiny in their own hands and they fluffed it.
Funny thing is I fancy Czech Republic at home against a aging Denmark side especially if Kasper Smichele is in goal because his form is terrible.

katser (Galway) - Posts: 2811 - 28/03/2026 14:58:34    2663600

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Replying To supersub15:  "An og is an og simple as that. Who benefits from an og. ?"
Ask Tommy Hutchison. He scored twice in the 1981 FA Cup final, and didn't take a winner's medal in a 1-1 draw. Lost the replay.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4636 - 28/03/2026 15:23:12    2663603

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Not my intention, you misinterpreted my post by adding 2+2 and getting 5. Let's say any county screws up in a big game everyone comes down hard on that team. They are fellow Gaels and amateurs with full time jobs. Yet when a professional team looses we use every excuse possible to give them a free pass. I'm not anti soccer far from it. The rugby media and public fawning is worse for a team many of whom aren't even Irish and have failed repeatedly at the World Cup."
Its not about the professional or amateur status, Republic of Ireland squads only get limited time together to collectively train, most of them aren't used to playing together and that takes time to build, like they don't know which runs certain team-mates might make.

GAA squads train together for months or years, they might be amateur, but they probably train as much as professionals.

Now for our player who conceded that penalty that brought it back to 2-1, he should get a kick up the arse, because even amateur players would know better in a high profile game that to do petty stuff like that.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1680 - 28/03/2026 17:42:12    2663628

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