European Football Championship 2016 / Ireland

This article covers the Irish national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France . It was Ireland's third participation.

qualification

Robbie Keane (left) and Jon Walters (right), Irish top scorers in qualifying

Ireland qualified for the European Championship in Group D and met world champions Germany. The Irish team was the only team that did not lose a game against the world champions and even won a competitive game against Germany for the first time. The Irish conceded the fewest goals from the teams in this group. In the end, however, it was only enough for 3rd place, as the team scored the fewest goals of the four teams placed in the top positions, was only drawn in the home games against Poland and Scotland and the away games were lost to both. Therefore, the Irish had to go to the play-offs, but were able to prevail there. Overall, team manager Martin O'Neill used 25 players, but no player in all twelve games used. Robbie Brady and John O'Shea , who played his 100th international match in the first game against Germany and scored the equalizer in added time, paused . A total of three times the Irish managed to win or equalize in the 90th minute or stoppage time. The best Irish goalscorers were Jon Walters and record international player and scorer Robbie Keane with five goals each. With 23 qualifying goals, Keane is also the best qualifying scorer, which he already achieved with his hat trick against Gibraltar.

In the course of qualifying, the Irish climbed from 66th place in the FIFA world rankings to 31st.

Games

All results from an Irish perspective.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
07.09.2014	Boris Paitschadze National Stadium , Tbilisi ( GEO )	Georgia	2: 1 (1: 1)	1: 0 Aiden McGeady (24th), 1: 1 Tornike Okriaschwili (38th), 2: 1 Aiden McGeady (90th)
10/11/2014	Aviva Stadium , Dublin	Gibraltar	7: 0 (3: 0)	1: 0, 2: 0, 3: 0 Robbie Keane (6th, 14th, 18th / penalty), 4: 0 James McClean (46th), 5: 0 Jordan Perez (52nd / own goal), 6: 0 James McClean (53rd), 7-0 Wes Hoolahan (56th)
14/10/2014	Veltins-Arena , Gelsenkirchen ( DEU )	Germany	1: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Toni Kroos (71.), 1: 1 John O'Shea (90. + 4 ′)
11/14/2014	Celtic Park , Glasgow , ( SCO )	Scotland	0: 1 (0: 0)	0-1 Shaun Maloney (75th)
03/29/2015	Aviva Stadium , Dublin	Poland	1: 1 (0: 1)	0: 1 Sławomir Peszko (26th), 1: 1 Shane Long (90th + 1 ′)
06/13/2015	Aviva Stadium , Dublin	Scotland	1: 1 (1: 1)	1: 0 Jon Walters (38th), 1: 1 John O'Shea (47th / own goal)
04.09.2015	Estádio Algarve , Faro / Loulé ( PRT )	Gibraltar	4: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Cyrus Christie (26th), 2-0, 3-0 Robbie Keane (49th, 51st / penalty), 4-0 Shane Long (79th)
07.09.2015	Aviva Stadium , Dublin	Georgia	1: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Jon Walters (69th)
08/10/2015	Aviva Stadium , Dublin	Germany	1: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Shane Long (70th)
10/11/2015	PGE Narodowy , Warsaw ( POL )	Poland	1: 2 (1: 2)	0: 1 Grzegorz Krychowiak (13th), 1: 1 Jon Walters (16th / penalty), 1: 2 Robert Lewandowski (42.)

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	10	7th	1	2	024: 900	+15	22nd
2.	Poland	10	6th	3	1	033:100	+23	21st
3.	Ireland	10	5	3	2	019: 700	+12	18th
4th	Scotland	10	4th	3	3	022:120	+10	15th
5.	Georgia	10	3	0	7th	010:160	−6	09
6th	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	002:560	−54	00
As of October 11, 2015

As one of the group thirds, the Irish then had to compete in the play-offs and met Bosnia-Herzegovina.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
11/13/2015	Bilino Polje , Zenica ( BIH )	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1: 1 (0: 0)	1-0 Robbie Brady (82nd), 1: 1 Edin Džeko (85th)
11/16/2015	Aviva Stadium , Dublin	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2: 0 (0: 1)	1-0, 2-0 Jon Walters (24th / penalty, 70th)

preparation

On March 25, 2016, the team met European Championship participants Switzerland in Dublin and won 1-0. Here came Jonny Hayes and Alan Judge and Eunan O'Kane to their first A-international matches. On the 29th, another European Championship participant was the opponent with Slovakia, also in Dublin, the game ended 2-2, with the Irish giving away the 2-1 lead through an own goal by Paul McShane . In the immediate preparation for the European Championship, a game against the Dutch who had not qualified for the European Championship took place on May 27, also in Dublin , which ended 1-1. From May 30th to June 3rd the team will move to a training camp at Fota Island Resort. On May 31, they met in Cork still on Belarus and lost with 1: 2, with Callum O'Dowda a novice was used.

Squad

National coach Martin O'Neill announced a provisional line-up of 35 players on May 12. The final roster was set on May 31. The players come from 18 clubs, most of them from Stoke City (4). Nine players play in the English second division, only the record international player and goal scorer Robbie Keane does not play in England. No player plays in Irish leagues and thus Ireland is one of the four teams without players from domestic leagues alongside Iceland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The goalkeeper Shay Given , born on April 20, 1976, is the second oldest nominated participant after the Hungarian goalkeeper Gábor Király . Both could replace Lothar Matthäus , who was 39 years and 91 days old at his last European Championship match on June 20, 2000 against Portugal , as the oldest European Championship player.

Jersey no.	Surname	society	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut	Last use	EM games
goalkeeper
16	Shay Given	Stoke City (I)	Apr 20, 1976	134	0	1996	May 31, 2016	3 (2012)
01	Keiren Westwood	Sheffield Wednesday (II)	Oct 23, 1984	18th	0	2009	0June 7, 2015	0 (2012)
23	Darren Randolph	West Ham United (I)	May 12, 1987	9	0	2012	May 27, 2016		4th
Defense
15th	Cyrus Christie	Derby County (II)	Sep 30 1992	5	1	2014	May 31, 2016
03	Ciaran Clark	Aston Villa (I ▼ )	26 Sep 1989	17th	2	2011	May 31, 2016		2
02	Séamus Coleman	Everton FC (I)	Oct 11, 1988	34	0	2011	May 27, 2016		4th		1
12	Shane Duffy	Blackburn Rovers (II)	0Jan. 1, 1992	3	0	2014	May 27, 2016		2			1
05	Richard Keogh	Derby County (II)	Aug 11, 1986	12	1	2013	May 31, 2016		2
04th	John O'Shea	Sunderland AFC (I)	Apr 30, 1981	111	3	2001	May 27, 2016	3 (2012)	3
17th	Stephen Ward	Burnley FC (II ▲ )	Aug 20, 1985	33	3	2011	May 31, 2016	3 (2012)	3		1
midfield
19th	Robbie Brady	Norwich City (I ▼ )	Jan. 14, 1992	23	4th	2012	May 27, 2016		4th	2
13	Jeff Hendrick	Derby County (II)	Jan. 31, 1992	21st	0	2013	May 31, 2016		4th		2
20th	Wes Hoolahan	Norwich City (I ▼ )	May 20, 1982	30th	2	2008	May 31, 2016		4th	1
08th	James McCarthy	Everton FC (I)	Nov 12, 1990	35	0	2010	29 Mar 2016		4th		1
11	James McClean	West Bromwich Albion (I)	Apr 22, 1989	38	5	2012	May 31, 2016	1 (2012)	4th
07th	Aiden McGeady	Sheffield Wednesday (II)	0Apr 4, 1986	82	5	2004	May 31, 2016	3 (2012)	3
18th	David Meyler	Hull City (II)	May 29, 1989	16	0	2012	May 31, 2016
22nd	Stephen Quinn	Reading FC (II)	0Apr 1, 1986	15th	0	2013	May 27, 2016		1
06th	Glenn Whelan	Stoke City (I)	Jan. 13, 1984	71	2	2008	May 27, 2016	3 (2012)	2		1
attack
10	Robbie Keane	LA Galaxy (I)	0July 8, 1980	143	67	1998	Oct 11, 2015	3 (2012)	2
09	Shane Long	Southampton FC (I)	Jan. 22, 1987	63	16	2007	May 31, 2016	2 (2012)	4th		2
21st	Daryl Murphy	Ipswich Town (II)	15th Mar 1983	20th	0	2007	May 31, 2016		2
14th	Jonathan Walters	Stoke City (I)	Sep 20 1983	39	10	2010	May 27, 2016	3 (2012)	2
Trainer
	Martin O'Neill		01st Mar 1952	64	8th	2013

Players who were only in the provisional squad

A first reduction in the roster took place on May 23.

position	Surname	Date of birth	society	Games	Länderspiel- gates	debut	Last use	EM games
goal	David Forde	Millwall FC (III)	Dec 20, 1979	24	0	2011	May 31, 2016	0 (2012)
Defense	Paul McShane	Reading FC (II)	0Jan. 6, 1986	33	0	2006	29 Mar 2016	0 (2012)
Defense	Alex Pearce	Bristol City (II)	0Nov 9, 1988	7th	2	2012	29 Mar 2016
Defense	Marc Wilson	Stoke City (I)	Aug 17, 1987	24	1	2011	Nov 13, 2015
midfield	Harry Arter	Bournemouth AFC (I)	Dec 28, 1989	2	0	2015	May 27, 2016
midfield	Darron Gibson	Everton FC (I)	Oct 25, 1987	27	1	2007	May 31, 2016	0 (2012)
midfield	Jonny Hayes	Aberdeen FC (I)	0July 9, 1987	2	0	2016	29 Mar 2016
midfield	Callum O'Dowda	Oxford United (IV ▲ )	Apr 23, 1995	1	0	2016	May 31, 2016
midfield	Eunan O'Kane	Bournemouth AFC (I)	July 10, 1990	4th	0	2016	May 31, 2016
midfield	Anthony Pilkington	Cardiff City (II)	0June 6, 1988	9	1	2013	29 Mar 2016
attack	Kevin Doyle	Colorado Rapids (I)	Sep 18 1983	62	14th	2006	25th Mar 2016	2 (2012)
attack	David McGoldrick	Ipswich Town (II)	Nov 29, 1987	4th	0	2014	May 31, 2016

1. ↑ ^{a b} League status 2015/16 in brackets
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Status: May 31, 2016
3. ↑ Status: Before the start of the European Championship finals
4. ↑ ^{a b} As a player for Northern Ireland
5. ↑ In the second English division

Finals

St-Denis Bordeaux Lille Versailles Lyon (AF)

Venues (green = won, yellow = draw, red = lost), quarters (blue)

Ireland was placed in Pot 4 when the six final groups were drawn on December 12, 2015. Ireland was drawn into Group E with Belgium, the new FIFA world leader ,. Italy and Sweden were drawn as further opponents. Ireland has a negative record against all three. Against Belgium there were three wins and five draws and five defeats in previous 13 games. The last win was against Belgium in May 1966. The last encounters between the two took place in the fall of 1997 in the play-off games of qualifying for the 1998 World Cup , in which the Belgians prevailed. On June 7, 2011, Belgium also had the last of two victories against Italy. There were also three draws and eight defeats. Both played against each other in the last group game of the preliminary round at the last European Championship. At that time the Irish were still trained by the Italian Giovanni Trapattoni , had already been eliminated and lost 2-0. Against Sweden there have been three wins in ten games so far - most recently on March 1, 2006 - as well as two draws and five defeats.

With a draw against Sweden, a defeat against Belgium and a win against Italy, which, as the group winners already in place, spared some regular players, the Irish made it to the knockout round for the first time as the second-best group third, where they meet the French for whom they still have a bill . After just one minute, the Irish were awarded a penalty that Robbie Brady was able to convert. As a result, the French pushed for the equalizer, but initially unsuccessfully and the Irish even had a chance to improve the result. In the second half they were able to turn the game around and beat the Irish 2-1.

Thanks to the European Championship games, especially the win against Italy, the Irish gained 32 points in the FIFA world rankings and improved by three places.

Because of her chants, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo symbolically awarded the Irish fans the Medal of Merit.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Italy	3	2	0	1	003: 100	+2	06th
2.	Belgium	3	2	0	1	004: 200	+2	06th
3.	Ireland	3	1	1	1	002: 400	−2	04th
4th	Sweden	3	0	1	2	001: 300	−2	01

Mon., June 13, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Saint-Denis
Ireland	-	Sweden	1: 1 (0: 0)
Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 3 p.m. in Bordeaux
Belgium	-	Ireland	3: 0 (0: 0)
Wed., June 22, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Villeneuve-d'Ascq ( Lille )
Italy	-	Ireland	0: 1 (0: 0)

Knockout phase

Round of 16 Sun., June 26, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. in Décines-Charpieu ( Lyon )
France	-	Ireland	2: 1 (0: 1)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uefa.com: "Keane leads Irish to runaway victory against Gibraltar"
2. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (August 14, 2014)
3. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (December 3, 2015)
4. ^ Rep. Of Ireland - Slovakia 2: 2
5. ↑ fai.ie: "Fota Island Resort to host pre-EURO 2016 training camp"
6. ^ Rep. Of Ireland - Belarus 1: 2
7. ^ Republic of Ireland - Provisional squad
8. ↑ uefa.com: Republic of Ireland - Squad
9. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Newcomers and long-running hits: Numbers - Numbers - Numbers: Albania is the biggest outsider among bookmakers , European Football Championship 2016, Paris, sid, June 10, 2016
10. ↑ the42.ie: "Marc Wilson ruled out of the Euros after aggravating knee injury"
11. ↑ uefa.com: "UEFA EURO 2016 final draw"
12. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Have you heard? , Front page, June 30, 2016
13. ↑ wn.de: "Safe, powerful voice, high penalties: tops and flops of the EM"