Newcastle United Irish pair of Shay Given and Damien Duff played a major role in helping Ireland to win their game in Dublin last night against a surprisingly good Cyprus side.
Damien Duff – set up first goal after just 5 minutes
Ireland’s Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni had talked about how important Duff was to the side before the game, and and it took just five minutes for the Newcastle winger to set up Ireland’s first goal for Robbie Keane.
So it was a great start for the Irish but then surprisingly Cyprus took control of the play and right at the end of the game the Irish had Newcastle goalkeeper Given to thank.
Shay made a brave save from striiker Christofi, when it looked like the Cypress man had to score.
But the win is a vital one for the Irish and they are now second in Group 8, just three points behind leaders Italy but with one game in hand. It’s a tough task for Ireland, but it would be great to see them get through to the finals in South Africa in 2010.
Comments welcome.
10 comments so far
graeme
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Comment #1Given was his usual reliable self – one of the best keepers about. Duff played well and they deserved the win.
Hopefully Duff will be better for having another match under his belt and put in a stonking performance against Man shitty.
51times
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Comment #2Let’s send these Manc abominations and their fascist Arab backers to hell on Monday.
Irish John
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Comment #3Must say Given was brillant and Duff was our best player going forward..he’s work rate was immense aswell…
Mcgeady had flashes of brillance aswell but still has so much to learn..could be a good signing for us for the future but would never pay anything above 7 or 8 mill for him..can be unplayable at times…
beyethegreat
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Comment #4im not irish but its always god to see them doing well especially when they have duff and given in the squad
beyethegreat
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Comment #5hopefully duff can become a legend
beyethegreat
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Comment #6like given
richie
Oct 16, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Comment #7like everyone else iv been hoping more than anything that duff recaptures his form of previous seasnons,,pre seson i was harping on about how he needs to b 100percent fit and then he looks a diff player i think this is starting to show with the run of games hes been having
his form is picking up for newcastle and he looked like the duff of old for ireland last night, if he continues getting games under his belt, we could have a world class player on our hands once again
Marty-TOON RISING
Oct 16, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Comment #8The 2 of them saved our asses last night.Both had to play well as we were under the cosh a bit.
Well done to both and they will be 2 of Nufc`s best players this season also
reillers
Oct 16, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Comment #9Aye they were both outstanding (on another note so was Doyle MOTM and well deserved, a revelation and so was Dunne.) They defended extremley well, there was one safe from Given and Dunne at the same time they just threw themselves bravely in front of the ball. They’ve done it so many times for us. At this stage Given (and Dunne) are just expected to have exceptional games.
Duff was a wizard on the wing, he played for Chelsea once upon a time and there’s a reason for that. To sum it up from the papers this morning..He’s back.
skin d
Oct 16, 2008 at 5:13 PM
Comment #10how does one become an arab fascist?.