Ireland and North Macedonia play out a boring, typical, end of campaign friendly, which failed to produce a goal

Republic of Ireland 0 

North Macedonia 0 

The entire Cork battalion featured for the Republic of Ireland during their 0-0 draw with North Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

Caoimhin Kelleher, John Egan and Chiedozie Ogbene all started, while Adam Idah, Jake O’Brien, and Alan Browne came off the bench on a drab night in the capital.

A handful of chances fell to Troy Parrott, but nothing really tested the North Macedonia defence over the course of the 90.

The result brings the curtain down on a long and protracted campaign that takes in the entirety of Heimir Hallgrímsson’s tenure as manager, from the UEFA Nations League to the qualifiers played through last autumn and winter.

This was the epilogue to the story, a small piece added on to the finale last week against Czechia. Ireland closed the book with an energetic display with a rejigged team that had two changes to the group that went down on penalties in Prague.

Egan was one of those brought in, for O’Brien, and he slotted into a back-three containing maintain stays Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea. Liam Scales was also in for Ryan Manning, with the defender back in the team after missing Thursday’s play-off in Prague through suspension.

That night haunted Dublin, as the players looked to excise their demons against North Macedonia side that lost their semi-final to Denmark. Ogbene was the light in darkness through this, as the forward poked and probed with runs down the right flank.

A 14th minute corner was a small reward, but nothing came out of Finn Azaz’s delivery to the back post. The midfielder was also responsible for Ireland’s next meaningful attempt, from a free-kick on the edge of the area, and he hit the ball just over the bar.

North Macedonia only had one attempt of note during this period, and Kelleher got to that deflected Enis Bardhi strike in the 21st minute.

Ireland continued to dominate despite this incursion, as players like Parrott ran at the opposition defence. The striker turned this into two chances during the first half, a header and an off balance effort, and he was unable to find the target while chasing a seventh goal in four games.

The game restarted with a number of North Macedonia changes, as Ireland settled into a prolonged period in procession. Azaz turned this into a shot after working with Coleman to free-up Parrott for a right footed strike that grazed the outside of the post in the 53rd minute.

Liam Scales, from his position at left wing back, also had an attempt only to see his effort come to nothing.

It felt quite pedestrian at this point, especially when the changes kept coming and both teams started to rotate in almost every position.

Idah came on at one point as Ireland tried to ignite something in attack, and the striker was later joined by Browne.

The midfielder managed to win a free-kick in the 90th minute and Jason Knight sent that into the box for a straight forward clearance by North Macedonia.

Things petered out with no flare, with attention now turning to this summer’s friendlies with Qatar and Canada.

Republic of Ireland: Caoimhin Kelleher; Seamus Coleman, John Egan, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Liam Scales; Jason Knight, Jayson Molumby, Chiedozie Ogbene, Finn Azaz, Troy Parrott.

Subs: Harvey Vale for Molumby (61); James Abankwah for Coleman (61), Mark Travers for Kelleher (61), Mohammad Lawal for Azaz (63), James Abankwah for Coleman (61), Jake O’Brien for Egan (72), Adam Idah for Parrott (72), Alan Browne for Abankwah (83), Johnny Kenny for Ogbene (84) North Macedonia: Stole Dimitrievski; Darko Churlinov; Gjoko Zajkov, Darko Velkovski, Feta Fetai, Sebastián Herrera; Tihomir Kostadinov, Isnik Alimi; Enis Bardhi, Eljif Elmas; Elmin Rastoder.

Subs: Daniel Musovski for Rastoder (HT) Nikola Serafimov for Velkovski (HT), Milan Ristovski for Bardhi (HT), Boban Nikolov for Kostadinov (62), Reshat Ramadani for Elmas (60), Luka Stankovski (60), Ljupche Doriev for Churlinov (60), Visar Musliu for Fetai (66), Egzon Bejtulai for Ramadani (71).

Referee: Iwan Arwel Griffith (Wales)