Ireland 0

France 1

IT wasn’t to be for Ireland against France as a tooth and nail performance was undone by a second half goal from Benjamin Pavard at a sold out AVIVA Stadium on Monday night.

The Euro 2024 qualifier brought the two time world champions to Dublin for the first time since 2009, and Stephen Kenny’s players had no interest in accommodating a studded team that included Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, and Eduardo Camavinga.

He opted for his traditional 3-5-2 with Matt Doherty and Seamus Coleman playing as full-backs but he changed things up with just fifteen minutes gone. Chiedozie Ogbene, who was named to start up top with Evan Ferguson, doubled up on the right hand side and Jason Knight played further up the pitch.

This solidified Ireland’s presence on the same side of the pitch as Mbappé, and it left the PSG forward without a shot on target in the opening half-hour.

That’s what it was all about for Kenny, reducing space in front of goal and pushing France as wide as possible. 

What this all came down to was control, and the only real troublesome moment in the first 30 minutes was a corner from Antoine Griezmann that was headed down. 

Gavin Bazunu reacted to this immediately and pounced on the ball, and he made sure there was no spillage.

Once Ireland weathered the storm they pushed up in the last ten minutes of the first half and won a succession of corners and free-kicks. Josh Cullen and Jason Knight put these in with expert precision, but nothing was able to get through the French wall and test Mike Maignan.

It was scoreless at the break, a score-line that reflected the state of play at the AVIVA.

Everything was going according to plan, until Pavard collected a stray pass on the edge of the area by Cullen in the 50th minute. 

The Bayern Munich full back wasted no time and gave France the lead by driving the ball into the top right corner.

This Irish team did not drop their heads after conceding, they stuck with what they were doing while playing with a little more attacking intent. 

The first time that caused the French problems was when Ogbene picked out Knight on the edge of the area and shot was blocked down. Seamus Coleman attempted feed the ball through to the Derby County midfielder and his pass had too much pace on it so Maignan picked this up.

A late flurry of chances and half-chances ended with Nathan Collins forcing a world class reflex save at the top corner after connecting with a Cullen corner with his head.

In the end, it wasn’t to be and France left Dublin having started their qualifying campaign with two wins from two.

Republic of Ireland: Gavin Bazunu; Seamus Coleman, Dara O’Shea, John Egan, Josh Cullen, Matt Doherty, Nathan Collins, Jay Molumby, Jason Knight, Evan Ferguson, Chiedozie Ogbene.

Subs: Adam Idah for Ferguson (64), James McClean for Doherty (77), Alan Browne for O’Shea (77), Mikey Johnston for Knight (77), Michael Obafemi for Molumby (86), France: Mike Maignan; Benjamin Pavard, Antoine Griezmann, Oliver Giroud, Kylian Mbappé, Randal Kolo Muani, Ibrahima Konaté, Adrien Rabiot, Eduardo Camavinga, Theo Hernández.

Subs: Moussa Diaby for Giroud (64), Jules Koundé for Pavard (81), Aurélien Tchouaméni for Rabiot (81), Marcus Thuran for Kolo Muani (90).

Referee: Artur Dias