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It wasn’t just 2,500 kilometers of European length that separated the two Nations League, Group 4 League B games when they kicked off in Sofia and Helsinki on Thursday night.
The fact that Bulgaria host the Republic of Ireland at the Vasil Levski National Stadium was a meeting of applause from the group. Two teams looking for a new path under new leadership and with their respective hopes of places at Euro 2020/21 next summer depending on the play-offs to come.
Finland and Wales have done much better for themselves. Perennial nobodies in the international game, the pair now play above their station, the Welshman has qualified for a second consecutive continental championship and the Finns joined them in 2021.
Ryan Giggs, minus a few key players and eager to bleed some youngsters, started with just four players with Premier League experience. His counterpart included Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki, two Bayer Leverkusen players and midfielder Glen Kamara, who joined Rangers last year from Dundee. The rest are scattered throughout Scandinavia and Belgium.
Then you look closer to home.
Stephen Kenny was increasing the talent at Ireland’s disposal long before he replaced Mick McCarthy earlier this year. Conor Hourihane has found that refreshing because it is the Aston Villa midfielder’s opinion that the quality available to the national team is simply “not appreciated enough.”
“He definitely believes in us and believes that there is quality in this squad. If you stop by the team (Thursday) night, except Callum (O’Dowda), we all pretty much play in the Premier League.
“You look at the bench and you have Seamus Coleman, Shane Long, Callum Robinson, Robbie Brady. All the Premier League players. So there is quality in the team.
“Yes, we may be missing that Gareth Bale from Wales, let’s say at the top, at the highest level, but there are very good players here in the entire squad.
“That quality is being recognized by this coach and that is why we do it with the style that we are, because he believes that we can pass football and it is always good to hear that.”
Ireland passed the ball nearly 550 times in Bulgaria, claiming nearly 60% possession and a 1-1 draw after Shane Duffy’s stoppage time header nullified a Bozhidar Kraev first goal.
It was a revolutionary change in approach crowned with the more familiar endings and spike lines.
The team takes two tomorrow night against the Finns at the Aviva for another Nations League date and if we now know how Ireland will play then the main question is whether Kenny will stick or deviate from the staff.
He hinted earlier in the week that full changes would not be required just because players have limited football on their belts, but the options have widened with David McGoldrick’s arrival in Dublin last night after treatment for a foot injury.
Once again, your eyes will go to the slot on the right side when you release your team. The presence of Matt Doherty ahead of Seamus Coleman two days ago did not produce unanimous approval, but this is an issue that will persist for a while, however the coin falls.
The highlight for Ireland on Thursday was the offensive trio of Callum O’Dowda, Adam Idah and, in particular, Aaron Connolly, but Kenny has other options in that department as he fine-tunes things ahead of the Euro Cup playoff in Slovakia on next month.
Others are likely to be offered their auditions and the same theory applies in midfield, especially since Jeff Hendrick, James McCarthy and Hourihane were just regulars at Sofia despite all the time they spent with the ball.
And it was Hourihane’s sloppy passing that led to the concession of the goal.
“Yes, later in the dressing room I was disappointed in myself because I felt it was a sloppy pass, an unnecessary pass on my part, I guess. We talked about it and then I raised my hand in the locker room ”.
There were similar mea blames from Shane Duffy and John Egan given Kraev’s scoring space and Kenny later accepted that the side had been too open at times against an opponent looking to defend in numbers and hit the counter.
It was a strange match in that sense, more like a match in Dublin where the responsibility to create lies with the Irish. Ireland has rarely been up to the task, but the hope is that the days of domination at D4 are over.
Tomorrow there will be no crowds streaming down Lansdowne Road, but the players and coaching staff are perfectly aware of the anticipation leading to a first home game under Kenny’s care and, like the coach, Hourihane is perfectly happy with that. .
“We have enough experience and we all play in England and there is always pressure on us in all our clubs in a certain way. Listen, the Irish soccer team, it’s huge in Ireland. We know it, we know it very well.
“It doesn’t matter if it was a previous regime or this regime, there has always been pressure on us.
“Maybe I can stand out a bit more because it’s a completely different style of play and we’re going in a different direction, so maybe that sets us apart a bit too.
“We will all take it easy.”
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