Republic of Ireland 1 Switzerland 0 at the Aviva Stadium
Ciaran Clark gave Ireland the perfect start with his second international goal after only two minutes and that was enough to claim the scalp of the team ranked 12th in the world. Shane Duffy got on the end of Robbie Brady’s out swinging corner from the right and his header found the head of Clark who had made no mistake from close range.
Shane Long almost doubled Ireland’s lead in the first half but his header came off the underside of the crossbar after a left foot cross from the right from tonight’s captain Seamus Coleman. Long was lively all night and chased down everything before he was replaced by James McClean six minutes from time.
Eunan O’Kane almost marked his debut with a late goal but the Bournemouth midfielder shot just wide. Switzerland had more possession but they didn’t create too many problems for Darren Randolph. Seven minutes from time Everton’s Shani Tarashaj who’s on loan at Grasshoppers dragged his right foot effort just wide although the final touch came off his team-mate Breel Embolo.
Alan Judge played the full 90 minutes on his debut and Johnny Hayes also won his first cap – both he and O’Kane were given the last half an hour. Shane Duffy did his Euro 2016 chances no harm with a solid performance in only his second appearance for Ireland.
It’s now 10 home games unbeaten for Martin O’Neill and next up is Slovakia at the Aviva on Tuesday night.
Daryl Murphy replaced Kevin Doyle in the 26th minute when the Colorado Rapids striker suffered an ankle injury.
Doyle posted a picture of nasty cut but O’Neill confirmed the injury wasn’t as bad as first feared
