England 5-0 Ireland
Ireland suffered a demoralising defeat against archrivals England on Sunday, as Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side were ripped apart after Liam Scales’ red card early in the second half.
The first half of Sunday’s game at Wembley had undoubtedly been the brightest moment thus far of Hallgrímsson’s reign, with Ireland brilliantly putting it up to the Euro 2024 runners-up and stifling their wealthy of attacking talent.
If the first half had been Ireland’s best performance thus far under Hallgrímsson, it was an entirely different story after the break. Scales’ dismissal for a second yellow card just after half time opened the floodgates, as 10-man Ireland collapsed.
Kane converted the penalty from Scales’ costly foul, before goals from Anthony Gordon, Conor Gallagher, Jarrod Bowen, and debutant Taylor Harwood-Bellis ensured a brutal end to this Nations League campaign for Ireland.
England 5-0 Ireland: Player ratings
Caoimhín Kelleher – 5
Despite England’s dominance of the opening stages, there was little for Caoimhín Kelleher to do in the Irish goal.
That all changed in a crazy opening 15 minutes to the second period, as Kelleher faced an onslaught from the England attack with Ireland down to ten. There was little he could have done for England’s open-play goals, and he could not replicate his penalty-saving heroics from Thursday night.
Callum O’Dowda – 4.5
Nervy in possession in the opening moments. Madueke was England’s most threatening player in the first half, and O’Dowda struggled to deal with his incisive play.
Won a free-kick well in a threatening position by buying a foul from Noni Madueke just before half-time, as he pushed forward more regularly.
Liam Scales – 4
Red carded just after half-time in the incident that changed the face of the game. Scales’ completely mistimed challenge when Bellingham was played through saw him dismissed for a second yellow card, after a first half in which he had been impressive in marshalling the England defence.
It was undeniably a clumsy tackle, though, and he could have no complaints given that his first yellow card was needless.
Mark McGuinness – 6
Thrown in from the start for his Ireland debut and was impressive early on, especially when it came to the aerial duels. He was hugely impressive in marshalling the right-hand side of Ireland’s defence in the first half, with England struggling to get any shots off despite their dominance of possession.
Like all of his teammates, his performance levels dropped significantly once
Dara O’Shea – 5
Repeatedly solid in the air when England threatened the Irish area in the first half, he was anonymous in the first 15 minutes after the break as England danced on by the Irish defence.
Sammie Szmodics – 5
Ireland fans breathed a sigh of relief when he returned to the field of play after going down with what initially looked like a serious injury after half an hour. He could have had a penalty moments later when Kyle Walker clipped him after a strong run in behind the England defence.
Began to track back more down the left flank as the threat from Madueke became apparent. Livramento skipped past him with far too much ease in the run-up to Gordon’s goal.
Josh Cullen – 5
Though he was sloppy in possession in the opening ten minutes, he soon settled down and his battling presence in midfield stifled the England attack on several occasions in the opening period.
Cullen got mixed up with Nathan Collins immediately before Anthony Gordon’s goal, which put England 2-0 up.
Nathan Collins – 6
Played slightly ahead in the boldest call yet of Heimir Hallgrímsson’s time in charge of Ireland. It was surreal to see him pressing on the edge of the England box, and he covered an impressive amount of ground in marshalling Ireland’s defensive efforts.
Forced to drop back into the back four after Scales was sent off. Got totally mixed up with Cullen to gift Gordon the chance to shoot for England’s second.
Jayson Molumby – 4.5
Brought the expected tenacity in the opening minutes and his sharp pressing caught out multiple English players in the first half. He riled up Harry Kane towards the end of the first half and made his mark on proceedings in the middle of the park early on.
His influence on the game virtually disappeared after the break as England took over.
Festy Ebosele – 6.5
A standout player for Ireland in the first half, Ebosele kept up the running as he continued to show unrelenting energy even as England took total control of the game after Scales’ red card.
Withdrawn before 70 minutes for the second game in a row, having again gone down with a knock.
Evan Ferguson – 5
Should have had a penalty after 20 minutes when he was hauled to the ground by Marc Guehi. Played himself out of tight situations nicely on several occasions in the first half.
🏴 0-0 🇮🇪
Did Ireland have a shout for a penalty here? Marc Guehi appeared to have a fistful of Evan Ferguson’s shirt…
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Anonymous for large sections of the game, especially after Scales’ dismissal removed any semblance of hope Ireland had of getting a result and service to him dried up.
Withdrawn having done little wrong but having had little impact on the second-half proceedings.
Substitutes
Ryan Manning (for Ebosele, 67′) – 5
Showed some composure when Ireland needed it but there was little he could do to steady the ship by the time he came on.
Finn Azaz (for O’Dowda, 67′) – 4.5
Struggled to do much on the rare occasions he got the ball.
Troy Parrott (for Ferguson, 67′) – 4.5
Pressed energetically but saw little of the ball.
Andrew Moran (for Cullen, 76′) – 5
Sprayed some nice passes around the pitch in the moments after he came on but the game was over by the time he was introduced.
Kasey McAteer (for Szmodics, 86′) – n/a
Not on long enough to rate.