Joseph Chipolina’s own goal and a late effort from Robbie Brady handed the Republic of Ireland a Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Gibraltar.
On a night when 36,281 turned up at the Aviva Stadium hoping for a goal-fest, Mick McCarthy’s men needed a stroke of good fortune to set them on their way to three points courtesy of a 2-0 win which keeps them at the top of Group D with 10 points from their opening four games.
The Republic, whose arrival at Lansdowne Road was delayed when they had to change buses after a mechanical failure, misfired despite dominating possession against stubborn opposition and they took the lead only when David McGoldrick’s 29th-minute shot hit the unfortunate Chipolina and ended up in the net.
McGoldrick later struck an upright before Brady came off the bench to score in added time but the game ended with him and the other front men, Callum Robinson, Scott Hogan and Sean Maguire, still awaiting a first goal for their country and knowing a golden opportunity had passed them by.
McCarthy refused to be downhearted by the lacklustre display and said he would have settled for a 1-0 win. “If the remit for me was to get 10 points, which I’m sure it was, that job’s done,” he said. “Someone’s just said we had a harder game against Switzerland – well we played better against Georgia and Denmark than we have against Gibraltar. But we’ve dispatched Gibraltar twice, we’ve got six points off them. I don’t know how many crosses we had. Was it 30-odd?
“Well, we ought to be better than that but it’s not easy. We could be better with our final ball and with our final cross. We could be better with our shots. I’d have taken 1-0. I didn’t play for that, you could see that. The second-half performance was a lot better. They haven’t been in our half. We’ve won, so don’t expect me to be too miserable about it.”
In the same group Denmark have five points from three matches by beating Georgia 5-1 in Copenhagen. After Kasper Dolberg netted a 13th-minute opener Georgia levelled 12 minutes later through Saba Lobzhanidze before Christian Eriksen restored the advantage on the half-hour from the penalty spot. The home side then cruised through the second half, with Dolberg adding his second followed by goals from Yussef Poulsen and Martin Braithwaite.
Meanwhile the Czech Republic hauled themselves level with England at the top of Group A with a 3-0 Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Montenegro. Jakub Jankto volleyed the hosts in front in the 18th minute in Olomouc, with the second coming four minutes after the break as Boris Kopitovic deflected in a Patrick Schick cross before the latter converted a penalty eight minutes from time.
England and the Czechs are level on six points – although Gareth Southgate’s side have played a game less – with Kosovo a point further back after a late 3-2 defeat of Bulgaria in Sofia. Milot Rashica gave the visitors a 14th-minute lead only for Bulgaria to haul themselves in front with goals from Ivelin Popov and the half-time substitute Kristian Dimitrov. Vedat Muriqi, though, grabbed a 64th-minute equaliser before the substitute Elbasan Rashani netted the winner in the third minute of added time to give Kosovo a qualifying win for the first time.
Spain maintained their 100% record with a fourth successive Group F win, beating Sweden 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, with Sergio Ramos and Alvaro Morata scoring penalties and Mikel Oyarzabal adding the third.
In the same group Romania beat Malta 4-0 in Ta’Qali courtesy of a brace from George Puscas, with Alexandru Chipciu, later to be sent off, adding the third and Dennis Man completing the scoring.
Bjorn Johnsen’s second-half double was enough to give Norway their first group win as they beat the Faroe Islands 2-0 in Torshavn.
Like Spain Poland are also unbeaten in four as they hammered Israel 4-0 in Warsaw, opening up a five-point gap over the visitors at the top of Group G. Goals from Krzysztof Piatek, Robert Lewandowski from the spot, Kamil Grosicki and substitute Damian Kadzior doubled the Poles’ tally as they had scored only four from their first three matches.
Slovenia were the night’s biggest winners as they secured their maiden Group G win with a 5-0 hammering of Latvia in Riga. Domen Crnigoj scored his first two international goals, with Josip Illicic also bagging a first-half brace, before Miha Zajc added the fifth just after the break.
Austria made it back-to-back victories with a 4-1 defeat of North Macedonia, who had opened the scoring in Skopje courtesy of a Martin Hinteregger own goal. But the Austrians hit back through Valentino Lazaro, two from Marko Arnautovic, the first from the spot, and an own goal from Egzon Bejtulai.
In Group B Serbia were also 4-1 winners, beating Lithuania in Belgrade, with Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring twice in the first half and Luka Jovic making it 3-0 before the break. Arvydas Novikovas pulled one back for the visitors with a penalty but Adem Ljaic made sure of the points in the second minute of added time. Serbia, though, find themselves six points behind the leaders, Ukraine, who could manage only a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in Lviv after opening the scoring in the sixth minute through Roman Yaremchuk.