Republic of Ireland 0-1 France: Stephen Kenny’s Boys in Green push past World Cup runners-up as Benjamin Pavard hammers home winner just after half time before Mike Maignan makes a brilliant late Nathan save Collins
These two nations are ranked first and second in the rugby world rankings but, despite a valiant Irish effort, a footballing abyss in class finally showed itself here to silence a raucous Dublin crowd.
It was far from the thunderous, heart-pounding Six Nations clash at this stadium last month.
But Ireland were level with France for most of this Euro 24 qualifier, but had to pay for a costly mistake when Burnley midfielder Josh Cullen lost possession in his own penalty area to Benjamin Pavard.
The full-back hit a whoop from 20 yards that went in over the underside of the bar and gave goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu no chance.
Ireland had chances of their own and Mike Maignan made a world-class reflex save with minutes remaining to deny Nathan Collins.
A great goal from Benjamin Pavard from outside the area opened the scoring just after the break
Pavard’s shot hit the crossbar to give the visitors the lead and gave Gavini Bazunu no chance
AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan was called twice in the dying seconds to deny Ireland an equalizer.
The AC Milan goalkeeper dove all the way to his right to grab the ball and solidify his claim to replace the retired Hugo Lloris as France’s starting No. 1.
Captain Kylian Mbappé barely had a kick and Antoine Griezmann only stood out for his bright pink hair.
So while Ireland leaves with nothing to show for it, they have a mountain of positives to take away from this.
Their boss, Stephen Kenny, vowed to fight with “ice and fire” and not “accept a slow death” ahead of this game and his team followed his orders in the first half.
They were fantastic and although they gave up a lot of possession, Bazunu barely had a meaningful save to make.
Veteran captain Seamus Coleman kept Mbappe calm, while Rotherham winger Chiedozie Ogbene caused problems on the counter-attack.
Southampton goalkeeper Bazunu was the star for Ireland and canceled out both Adrien Rabiot and Moussa Diaby. Other than that, however, the French hardly threatened.
Evan Ferguson proved he’s more than a penalty area predator with some clever holdup plays.
The 18-year-old received the biggest cheer at the Aviva Stadiums when the starting XI was read out and it is understood that Manchester United had sent scouts to watch him.
Ferguson was educated at the famous St Kevin’s Boys Club in North Dublin and while this first competitive outing means he is now tied to Ireland, his international future was never really in doubt.
Considering Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign started with defeats to Serbia and Luxembourg, this was all the more encouraging and Kenny’s sons will be enjoying their chances of reaching the final in Germany.