The European Championship campaign of Ireland ends after being given a day of mixed emotions.
The mistakes they committed will haunt them throughout for sometimes. Stephen Kenny’s team showed significant improvement from previous game, which was the last month’s double header.
The visitors were taken to a ride by Slovakia, which turned the game upside down. In the shootout Slovakia was able to score big by scoring four.
The team entered the ground with a lot of hope of wearing boots in a major tournament in their own land, but the players felt the summers heat early itself as they committed serious mistakes that took away the match from them.
After reliving the hops of many, it is hard for Ireland now to show their back against the tournament, which they dreamt of playing.
Ireland had hiccups right before the game itself. Aaron Connolly and Adam Idah were forced to be removed from the game because of Covid-19 protocols. Reports says that “a second member of the backroom team had tested positive for Covid-19,” thus the two players were taken out due to close contact.
As the number of players reduced, some of the key players felt more pressure. Even, Slovakia lost two key players in the last 24 hours of the match, and resulted in increasing the balance of the hurdle.
For Ireland the absence of Connolly pushed James McClean ahead, and this decreased the attacking nature of the team.
When the entire time of the match went goalless, the winner was selected through a shootout.
Ireland were able to score only two goals, whereas Slovakia succeeded in pushing the ball four times to the net.