Thursday 15th November 1945hrs Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland Football – International – Friendly International football is often called dull and boring with little in the way of excitement or at times, rivalry – well those accusations can certainly not be levelled at this particular fixture. The Republic host their neighbours from just across the border on Thursday in what is being described as a friendly game but we are all well aware of the cultural and political connotations that this game brings with it. It will be the first time the two have met since 2011 so meetings are occasional making this game even more anticipated. Continue reading for a match preview as the Republic of Ireland host Northern Ireland, with a selected best betting tip.
Followers of the Irish national team would have known this period was coming for a while but now it’s here, they are probably realising just how bleak international football can be at times. Having reached the last two European Championships, the Republic of Ireland have probably overachieved for a country their size with a semi-pro league and a small group of players to select from – many of whom were playing with relegation threatened Premier League clubs or in the top half of the Championship. Even reaching the playoffs for the last World Cup was an achievement of sorts but Martin O’Neill now finds himself in a position where he will have to rebuild this squad significantly before the Irish will be threatening qualification for future major tournaments. Their UEFA Nations League campaign has been something of a disaster with demoralising defeats home and away to Wales and hanging on for a draw to Denmark. They are now virtually assured of finishing bottom in their group and therefore relegated to the league below which further reduces their chances of reaching Euro 2020. Thursday’s game will do little to restore those hopes but a good performance and result against their near neighbours will at least give the supporter something to shout about before travelling to face Denmark next week.
Northern Ireland are a victim of their own success to some degree in that the improvement Michael O’Neill has overseen in his tenure as coach has led to them climbing the rankings and the result is they were drawn with Austria and Bosnia in the UEFA Nation’s League. Whilst Northern Ireland have had as much success relative to those countries of late, they are short on the quality in comparison to others and that’s been shown in their games thus far as they sit bottom of their section and facing relegation to the league below. They started their campaign with a defeat at home to Bosnia before successive away defeats against that same nation following a loss to Austria. As has been the case for Northern Ireland under O’Neill, they were in all of those games and lost all three narrowly. They will finish their section with a home game against Austria on Sunday and there is still hope that they can survive if they can manage a win and Bosnia also defeat Austria. Before that, they will make the short trip to Dublin on Thursday and hope to get back to winning ways having lost five of their last six games.
Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland Betting Tip
It’s been over eight years since these two nations clashed and it was a resounding win for the Republic who slammed five passed their opponents without reply, albeit the Northern Irish team on the occasion was made up from a shadow squad of players. I will put my neck on the line and say that I very much doubt we’ll see a repeat of that score on Thursday such is the resoluteness of the visitors these days but also because I’m not sure this Republic team have five goals in them across as many games let alone in a single 90 minutes. Martin O’Neill’s team have not scored more than one goal in a game in over a year and when you look through their options up top then it’s not hard to understand why.
It’s been a struggle for both nations of late and their experiences of the UEFA Nations League will not be the best on the basis of their first three matches. This at leaves gives them a chanc of some respite and a win would certainly provide some bragging rights amongst the fans at least. It will be a sea of green in Dublin but I am siding against a flood of goals and anticipate this being a low scoring affair. Both O’Neills, Martin and Michael, tend to set their teams out well and make them hard to breakdown, I see this game being no different and suggest a more speculative bet on there being under 1.5 goals in the game.
Selection: Under 1.5 goals 31/20 @ Betfair
