ROI v NI

Republic of Ireland team v Northern Ireland:

Given (Manchester City);

McShane (Hull City), Delaney (Ipswich Town), Kelly (Fulham), Wilson (Stoke City);

Lawrence (Portsmouth)/Coleman (Everton), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Fahey (Birmingham City)/Foley (Wolves), Treacy (Preston North End);


Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Cox (West Bromwich Albion).


Would nt be rushin to back us at 8/15 here tbh

Just about to start a thread on the same subject, poor value, that backline looks dodgy. The North's squad is poor but the first 11 is not too bad well not to bad you compared to our first 11 and they will be up for this big time. I think a lay of Ireland may not be too bad a bet.

Glad to see Marc Wilson and Simon Cox getting starts

Think the other 3 in the back line look very dodgy though

Dont think there is much pace in midfield either - if Lawrence starts, the 4 players are very similar imo

Treacy can create but is very hit and miss


Ireland at 1.53 on here now, gotta be worth a lay

Ipswich Town winger Josh Carson will win his first cap for Northern Ireland in Tuesday night's Carling Nations Cup game against the Republic of Ireland.

Carson has been named in manager Nigel Worthington's starting line-up for the match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Alan Blayney will play in goals, with Adam Thompson, Lee Hodson, Craig Cathcart and Gareth McAuley in defence.

Sammy Clingan, Steve Davis and Jonny Gorman play in midfield, with Warren Feeney and Josh McQuoid up front.

Blayney is preferred to Jonathan Tuffey between the posts.

Ryan McGivern pulled out of the squad for the games against the Republic of Ireland and Wales on Sunday.

The Manchester City full-back has a groin injury and Oldham Athletic's Carl Winchester received a first senior call-up as his replacement.

Oldham teenager Winchester is the fourth new face in the senior squad after Stuart Dallas, Jordan Owens and Carson got their first call-ups on Tuesday.

Northern Ireland take on the Republic on Tuesday night at the Aviva Stadium with Wales their opponents three days later.
Continue reading the main story

    As long as all the big boys are fit and raring to go come the start of August, that's when I want them all back

Nigel Worthington Northern Ireland manager

A host of players are injured or unavailable for the fixtures.

Worthington acknowledged that the timing of the two end-of-season fixtures was "very awkward".

"The Republic have got qualifying games so they will have pretty much all their big players around the squad," added the Northern Ireland boss.

"Wales have been hit quite badly, as have ourselves. I don't know Scotland's situation at the moment.

"We've got players who have played 50-odd games in the season and need a rest, players who are getting married, one or two who have injuries at the end of the season.

"But as long as all the big boys are fit and raring to go come the start of August, that's when I want them all back."

Lack of numbers means the eligibility row has surfaced again, with a Fifa ruling allowing Northern Ireland-born players to opt for the Republic, and youngsters Daniel Devine and Shane Ferguson looking likely to switch allegiance.

Worthington said: "The situation hasn't changed. The door is open at this moment in time until such time as it changes.

"Personally, I want players to represent Northern Ireland, not another country, and that's the Republic, England, Scotland, Wales, wherever.

Northern Ireland team: Blayney, Thompson, Hodson, Cathcart, McAuley, Clingan, Davis, Carson, Gorman, Feeney, McQuoid





No bet now, thats a p1ss poor team!

sending off @ 9/1.

Has Anthony Stokes not spent the majority of his time on the bench recently?

How exactly can he be suffering from fatigue?

To be fair it's no excuse but it's a crazy time to organise a couple of friendly matches. I still think we are too short even though i bet us last week at 1.80 and 1.75 to me we should be 1.61 or even a little bit bigger. Kelly and Delaney playing centre half, the North's Centre half pairing is better than that at centre of midfield it's tight but i like the two Northern lads, Feeney ain't much but i think he can cause trouble against these 2. We should have their measure out wide But certainly at these prices would much rather lay us than back us.

2-1 roi

They better start coleman else I'm watch the neville testimonial

By fatigue, he means hangover

Won't be having a bet, but couldn't lay Ireland looking at that Northern Ireland line up.

Stephen Ward starts and makes his debut!
CHING CHING! GTFI!!! 

Is there a crowd ban??

There was more sitting in the stand to see the Queen in it last week

Catchy tune the Northern Eire Havefor their Anthem.

2 yrs ago that Keane chance would have been a goal.

Sad to see him plodding around now.

Nice start but bad mistake, Dan totally agree with you about your comment.

marc wilson won't play under trap now.

Something up when they are are all at it though. Stokes i can't stand though.

I knew i'd inspire him

Nice finish, thankfully he didn't have to run for it.

Ireland - Scotland 5/2 double looks some bet now.

muppetfingers what do ye make of the crowd tonight? i see it's empty. will ya be getting your big boy calculator out now and be comparing this to your gaa games that you're so interested in?

Playing great stuff to be fair, running riot on them. :)

Go on the red card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was harsh very harsh, nice to see some of the Irish lads go up and plead his case !!

need the north to defend here now, have 2 euro on 4nil with powers

how did coleman play?

Anyone else at the game see the banner the Northerners unveiled?

'Fai Leave our Players alone

Keep Gibson'

Poor crowd again but good performance by the team.

This Carling Nations has been a disaster crowds wise, anyone with tickets tonight gets in free to  the Scotland v Wales  or Wales v North games on Wednesday and Friday so they are making the effort but they really overestimated demand for such a tournament, without England in it. Also some of the squads sent out have not helped.

is it correct that 48 tickets have been sold for one of the wales games?

Coleman looked composed without doing much, very good first touch, but didn't seem to keen to take on players.

Actually reasonably impressed by Josh Carson. Only 17 and the North's best player by a distance. Very good in the first half.

it said on news talk 32 moyes..

There is simply too many friendly internationals being played at home, sorry but i am counting these 3 Carling cup matches a friendly games that makes it 12 home friendly matches in the past 2 years, it's crazy. The FAI have got probably one of the best stadiums in Europe if not the best bar Wembley added to the fact the tickets prices are mental in the economic times we live and under Trapp we're a bad side to watch. Can you blame people for not going?

We have the home friendlies to pay for the ground. Tickets were available for 30 euro. It was not cheap but hardly terrible value to watch an international soccer match in a nice stadium. It does not justify the attendance tonight it was shocking, as was the Wales game and a number of previous friendlies.

We are a nation of occasion junkies, come a big event we all come out of the woodwork and you can't get a ticket for love nor money. Their is a very good chance we will be playing England in the next 12 months in a home friendly. You won't be able to get a ticket for it.

Its a Tuesday night on a work week. People dont have the cash anymore and have to be selective.

Added to that the FAI burnt their bridges with genuine soccer people with their ludicrous block booking schemes in the tiger years. They are reaping their rewards now.

Money great point thats a very good point about the block booking !!

15,000 attendance for a friendly? Is that no use?

In fairness to the block booking scheme it meant that people who went to all the games were guaranteed tickets to the big games. It also meant that as a blockbooker you had to take tickets for every friendly. It didnt affect attendances then.
I don't have the answer why attendances are so low now but I have attended 90% + of home games since 1991 and as a blockbooker in recent times meant I was always sorted for the big games which is the way it should be.

The FAI shafted a lot of the fans after 1990 world cup and this continued after the 92 qualifying round. We were on the block booking list and my mate and his father were on it, the FAI had a policy back then of looking after the corporate types and fans very much came second. After 1990 it got more difficult were told not enough space and we lost our block booking place due to the demand and so did many good Irish football fans as the FAI looked after their own 'rich' friends. I think it's finally come back to bite them. Although saying that up until recently i was back on the block booking scheme and i give it up because of the amount for friendly matches you had to pay for, i would not even go and see Argentina or Brazil play, anyway i was able to pick up tickets for any game i wished to attend through contacts i have in the football family.

RF - I'm surprised you lost your block-booking, what with having so many friends in high places!

Does anyone else think that the attendance figure has been slightly exaggerated by the FAI. For a stadium which holds 51,700 (according to Wikipedia) there looked like a lot less than 15,000 fans there.

Never claimed i had db, maybe you could jog my memory? Exaggerated for last night db? Jeez would seriously doubt it although nothing would surprise me with the FAI at times, but i doubt it. Friday's crowd should be fun though !!

Rocketfingers you did, you also claimed you where a big punter who had to bet with asian firms (or something along those lines) as you could not get on, you also claimed you where a big punter who could buy me, selective memory??

Ok Sat Flight go and show me where i claimed i had a friend very high up in the FAI? And your question about do i have a selective memory, is a childish remark considering you have claimed 3 times now that you'll never post on here again !!!

Rocketfingers im not looking for an arguement, but when you make lies you should remember them as to not catch yourself out

Well my friend if you're going to call me a liar you certainly are looking for an argument. Now old chap, these lies you speak of can you show me? Because it is my hunch that you're making this all up to have a go at me my friend. I've never said i have a friend that is high up in the FAI. Surely it is only fair that i am innocent till proven guilty Sat Flight !?

The FAI shafted a lot of the fans after 1990 world cup and this continued after the 92 qualifying round. We were on the block booking list and my mate and his father were on it, the FAI had a policy back then of looking after the corporate types and fans very much came second. After 1990 it got more difficult were told not enough space and we lost our block booking place due to the demand and so did many good Irish football fans as the FAI looked after their own 'rich' friends. I think it's finally come back to bite them.

Biting them back nearly 20 years later, that's a long time to be holding a grudge. Their was nowhere near as big a corporate attachment to football, and pre celtic tiger there was no where near a big enough corporate seen even after Italia 90. I really think your exaggerating on a grand scale.

What year were you taken off the block booking?

Oh i certainly do not hold a grudge i have been back and been a block booker since Squigs and the FAI have done some good things but back then it was handled badly and i still think do this day many of the real fans were shafted and it showed the FAI were interested in what they could get in return and while i am sure a lot have been back many just choose there games like i do now.

I was on the first ever block booking scheme iirc and had gone to the 88' qualifers although i could be corrected the first BB scheme may actually have been for the qualifiers for '90', i was going to games for years pre the ole ole brigade that and a lot seem to still exist on here. These people clearly think @soccer' only started in 1988 and lack knowledge about domestic football pre dating 88'.

I was taken off/lost on for the '92' campaign, my mate taken off/lost out on after 92' for 94' Qualifiers, back then the way we lost out was through the lottery but that meant a lot of the new 'SOCCER FANS' were allowed to claim the tickets on top of the old fans unless you had good connections. But it was the corporate types who were cleaning up a lot of the tickets, if you noticed the athmosphere went downhill at the games around this time as the real fans football fans were forced to to watch at home in a pub or just go to away games. I knew a business man who got 30 to wine and dine guests at all home games, these people who would have no interest in the game, now i wonder how he got it? Actually will i don't wonder, i know exactly [;)]

To be fair to the FAI did change the BB Scheme to reward those who wanted to stay loyal to the national team, but a lot of the damage had been done. If they had done that at the start it would have saved a lot of the hassle instead of looking out for their business friends first and the new masses of the football brigade.

First of all the block-booking scheme started for the end of the 1990 qualifier games. I very much doubt you lost your place for the 1992 qualifiers as the capacity was still allowed to be 46k then. What did happen for the 1994 qualifiers was UEFA laws changed to all-seater stadia and therefore inevitably fans lost out as capacity was reduced to 33k. Since you were on the list since 1988 you must have rubbed up one of your FAI mates at the highest level the wrong way or you're just very unlucky.
As for your point about people thinking @soccer only started in 1988 I suggest you forgive those posters under 30 who only by the fault of the birth date weren't around then so hardly fair to criticise  them for that. Just because you weren't born before Jackie Charlton or even the Eoin Hand era does not make you less of a fan.

By the way what i wrote is 100% fact, you probably never heard of Soccer till Ray Houghton scored v England? Oh that reminds me i even got tickets for Euro 88' and still got shafted just a couple of years later.

I've learned the FAI answer their phones quicker when they know your successful in life so i enjoy playing them at their own game now !

Think you'll find what I wrote is 100% fact.
Glad to hear you're finally successful in life.

Anyway i think it's great that we now have a situation to a certain extent that the true Irish football fan is now dictating what we pay for tickets to see our national team, a real victory for the "real football fans" who were there pre 1988 like myself.

I`m with you here RF.
I gave up trying to see us play competitively at Landsdowne after the 1990 WC. It became virtually impossible to get your hands on one without paying over the odds. I`ve been to a thousand football matches since then, but only a handful of Ireland matches.
Fook the FAI. The greedy pr#cks are getting everything they deserve now.

We had 70 odd thousand for some games in Croke Park only 2 years ago.

If it was the GAA you would be suggesting that interest in the sport is dwindling not that fans have a decision regarding tickets. RE price the world cup qualifiers for world cup 98 had tickets at £22 this is in 96-97, tickets for the game on Tuesday were €30. Excusing that one is a friendly and the other a qualifier allowing for inflation the tickets are not bad value. Considering that the FAI are in a lot of debt over Aviva stadium they have to raise revenue.

Instead you are using ticketing arrangements from 17 years ago to justify all the 'true fans' going away.
It's a silly argument.

Giant Strides a Bohs fans a proper football man agrees with me. We remember those days because it hurt us more than it could have possibly hurt a lot of others on here. Squigs you're a good guy but you're dead wrong on this one mate as those prices hurt the ole ole brigade the real fan was shoved to one side long before that !

Ok I am younger then you two lads but I have gone to games consistently from 1995 onwards so I can't talk pre 94.

Last time i was at an Ireland game was against Lietchenstein in 1997 I think and that was only because I was in Dublin on a work trip and as usual tickets were easy to get for such a low key game.

I went to almost all the home qualifiers from about 1986 up to the 1994 world cup qualifying campaign, but gave up on it after that because I wasnt prepared to be blackmailed into buying tickets for every meaningless friendly.

When your living outside Dublin (Im in Waterford) going to a game in Dublin on a Wednesday night involves travel expenses, taking time off work as well as paying for tickets. I have a few mates who were prepared to do this and pay a couple of hundred quid when the time came round for two qualifier games and the two friendlies that went with them. They would often not even attend the friendlies but if they didnt buy them they would lose their seats.

Most of these guys are out of work now and can no longer afford such luxury and im sure there is thousands like  them around the country, hence the empty stadium.

Ps id say the crowd Tuesday night was about half of the alleged 15000

I was there and looked about a 1/4 full.

thats at most.

They're all as bad as each other

I went to near enough every GAA game in Croke Park with my grandad between 1983 & 1988 (have all the programs as well up in my mam's attic!). This was back in the day when you could be lifted over the turnstiles. We went to first round Leinster games through to Leinster finals to both semi-finals every year in both hurling & football. Also went to League matches throughout the winter as well. Could never get tickets for the finals though.

Andy Reid I see is being let go by Blackpool. Now that says a lot. Basically he aint good enough for the Premiership. He has been round the block since Trap discarded him. Sunderland amongst others.
Dunphy the clown was berating Trap for not accomodating him. That's at least 3 more managers thinking he is a lost cause.