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Darren Randolph will draw on memories of a famous World Cup qualifying win in Cardiff as the Republic of Ireland belatedly attempts to ignite Stephen Kenny’s reign against Wales.
The teams will meet in a Nations League B, Group 4 match at Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday with new coach Kenny still awaiting his first win after six games at the helm after Thursday’s 3-0 friendly loss by the night before England.
However, just over three years ago, they left South Wales with an invaluable 1-0 win, courtesy of James McClean’s goal, which booked them into a play-off showdown with Denmark and, though they ultimately missed a trip to Russia, inevitably, minds will return to one of their best recent results.
When asked if Ireland could take advantage of that experience, goalkeeper Randolph said: “Yes, 100 percent. It’s still talked about.
“We can see different clips before different games, we can still see that return goal and there are some of us on the team that were obviously on the team that night and we remember it quite well.
“Those nights don’t happen too often, so it’s definitely something to remember.”
Ireland and Wales have gone head-to-head three times since that night with Ryan Giggs’ men winning at home and away in the final Nations League campaign before a 0-0 draw in Dublin in October.
Martin O’Neill was at the helm when McClean ended the hopes of the World Cup in Wales and the second incarnation of Mick McCarthy came and went with Kenny now in charge and desperately awaiting a change of fortune.
His six games to date have resulted in two draws and four losses, the most significant of which marked his team’s exit from the Euro 2020 play-offs in Slovakia last month after a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out.
Ireland was arguably the best team on the night in Bratislava and Randolph and his teammates can be forgiven for wondering what could have been if they had managed to see things at Narodny Stadium.
The 33-year-old West Ham goalkeeper said: “We probably weren’t going to have as easy an opportunity to qualify as that Slovakia game, but it’s over. We played well, we created opportunities, we just didn’t.” Put the game to bed.
“Hopefully it’s still something that hurts people and it’s an experience for people to learn in the future.”
Kenny’s resources have been severely depleted in the last two months by coronavirus protocols and injuries and that, coupled with his determination to bleed a new generation of players and instill a more potent soccer brand, has taken its toll before the clashes with Wales and Bulgaria at which World Cup seed points are up for grabs.
However, Randolph said: “After a couple of good performances and good results, you get that wellness factor back and it’s amazing how things can change and people get a little bit of confidence after a couple of wins.
“Two important games are approaching in which we are going to study games in which we have to win to get the best possible result in the group so that it does not affect the classification.”
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