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Ireland's James McCarthy and Dusan Tadic of Serbia. INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Ireland left to rue wasted opportunities as Serbia claim victory

Shane Long scored one but could have had a hat-trick in tonight’s friendly.

Ireland 1
Serbia 2

IRELAND SUFFERED THE first defeat of the Martin O’Neill era at the Aviva Stadium tonight.

Shane Long put the Boys in Green ahead after just seven minutes but was guilty of two bad misses and Serbia capitalised on a couple of defensive errors to earn a narrow victory.

Ireland nearly made the perfect start inside two minutes when Wes Hoolahan fed James McClean and the Wigan winger whipped a ball to the back post.

Glenn Whelan took the volley on first time and found the bottom corner but Hoolahan, who had followed the shot in, was ruled offside by the referee’s assistant.

Home fans didn’t have to wait long, however, as Long lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic’s head for the opening goal six minutes later.

Marc Wilson launched the ball downfield where Serbia captain Branislav Ivanovic looked under little pressure but the Chelsea defender left his pass back short and Long finished superbly with his weaker left foot after working hard to hunt the ball down.

The visitors had an attempt on goal on 14 minutes when Milan Bisevac headed a corner into the hands of David Forde, then strung a slick move together which resulted in Filip Dordevic glancing well wide.

They grew in confidence and when Dordevic and Tadic linked up excellently, Benfica teenager Lazar Markovic got a shot off but Forde smothered well.

Ireland then had James McCarthy to thank on 20 minutes as the Everton midfielder made a goal line clearance to prevent Ivanovic scoring after connecting with a corner.

On the half-hour mark, Long should have had his second of the night and 12th in an Ireland shirt. Hoolahan broke through the middle and threaded a through-ball into the feet of the Tipperary striker but his effort at Stojkovic was tame.

Norwich man Hoolahan was a constant creative outlet on the night and his pass to find the run of Coleman caused Bisevac to slice dangerously close to his own net.

McClean shot narrowly wide before Tadic’s curling effort came close to catching Forde off his line during the latter stages of an enjoyable first half.

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Shane Long and Wes Hoolahan celebrate. Credit: Inpho

Whatever Serbia manager Ljubinko Drulovic said to his side at half-time it worked as they pulled level three minutes after the restart.

Manchester City’s Aleksandar Kolarov found Tadic and advanced forward before getting it back to complete the one-two. Ireland’s offside trap didn’t work with Coleman keeping players on and McCarthy bundled Kolarov’s shot over the line while trying to prevent a goal.

The Hoolahan-Long combination created yet another super chance on 53 minutes but, unfortunately, resulted in the same outcome with the Hull striker failing to hit the target with an attempted chip.

And Ireland were to be punished for that miss on the hour mark. Coleman lost possession and Dordevic finished from close range.

O’Neill decided to give runs to David Meyler, Anthony Pilkington, Ciaran Clark, Jon Walters and Daryl Murphy in the last half-hour but Ireland didn’t really go chasing the game by pushing numbers on until the final minutes, which ultimately proved too late.

IRELAND: Forde, Coleman, R Keogh, Wilson, Ward (Clark 64′), McGeady (Murphy 71′), McCarthy (Meyler 61′), Whelan (Quinn 80′), McClean, Hoolahan (Pilkington 61′), Long (Walters 72′).

SERBIA: Stojkovic, Rukavina (Gudelj 89′), Bisevac, Ivanovic, Dordevic (Scepovic 87′), Tadic (Ljajic 81′), Kolarov, Matic, Fejsa, Basta (Tosic 58′), Markovic (Sulejmani 76′).

LIVE: Republic of Ireland v Serbia

Quick-fire goals end Ireland’s hopes of U21 Euro qualification

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30 Comments
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    Mute TheSportsHangout
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:24 PM

    Substitutions looked to have a massive effect in killing the game, In fairness Long should have had a hat-trick and things could have been different but overall I wouldn’t complain too much, At least They tried to play football and attack the opposition and give people value for the ticket price. Fact is Trappattoni probably would have got the same result with a more negative tactic.

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    Mute Robbie Fahy
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:37 PM

    Your Ratings are a bit harsh I think ??? http://wp.me/p3yGUO-uB

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    Mute Cian O'Connor
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:59 PM

    If people start looking for Robbie they can go jump..long is the future

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    Mute Bill Rooney
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:04 PM

    Then no future….

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    Mute Jaymie
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    Mar 6th 2014, 6:51 AM

    Lads we’re sh!t get over it

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    Mute Heather Sinnott
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:31 PM

    And Scotland won their friendly against Poland

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    Mute Johnny Mc Donnell
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:58 PM

    I Think we all got reality check this eve!! How we we manage to do it over and over again , we kid ourselves that were actually better than we are, take Coleman, Wes hoolahan and maybe long out of the team tonight, the rest are very average to say the least…still by the time next game rolls around we’ll have ourselves fooled were great again

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    Mute D
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    Mar 6th 2014, 12:04 AM

    Coleman at fault for both goals …. Muck …

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    Mute another Glen.....
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    Mar 6th 2014, 12:07 AM

    We ARE great Johnny. And so are Keane and O’Neill – just look at all the international management experience they have! Keane was at a World Cup as a player – and nobody could have done more for their country. Ask McCarthy or Delaney…

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    Mute Insipid
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    Mar 6th 2014, 12:51 AM

    At my first Irish game in years, brought the kids for first time. Refused to go under Traps guidance. Did not see any difference between either Irish managers tactics. Route one, kicking it back to keeper. Besides Holohan the rest were a fairly shocking international outfit., very patchy passing, very lazy among 7/8 seasoned pros. In a word boring and turgid. Played off the park. Serbia barely broke a sweat.we. were chasing shadows all evening.. Name 4 players who did not look like headless. Chickens. Back to the drawing board men against boys. Looked like we had never played together before..

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    Mute Hound of Cooley
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    Mar 6th 2014, 8:58 AM

    #Monkeaneout

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    Mute Dan
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:28 PM

    Didnt touch the ball in the second half. Long should of put Serbia to bed before they came back at us. Should be winning at home with a goal start. Disappointed because I really thought the least MON and Keano would bring is hard work, none tonight im afraid.

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    Mute another Glen.....
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:58 PM

    ‘should of put’

    What does that mean, Dan?

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    Mute Brendan Morgan
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:00 PM

    he obviously means Long should have finished his chances and put us a couple of goals ahead before serbia managed to get themselves back in the game :/

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    Mute Dan
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:12 PM

    What Brendan said

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    Mute John Pepper
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:36 PM

    Made perfect sense to me.

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    Mute Paul Foot
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:43 PM

    But not to me – or other English speakers.

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    Mute nialls
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    Mar 5th 2014, 11:50 PM

    , not – Paul :)

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    Mute The Irish Ranger
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    Mar 6th 2014, 4:03 AM

    Maybe Irish is his first language. Either way, pi $$ off paul.

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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:46 PM

    If you think Long’s misses were bad check out Benteke’s miss for Belgium tonight. Lol.

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    Mute Bill Rooney
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    Mar 5th 2014, 10:55 PM

    And Chile’s miss – Suarez – against Moldova, in 1987… (lol)…

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    Mute jimjoryrt
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    Mar 6th 2014, 12:08 AM

    Irish soccer is always good for laughing at

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    Mute Birch Barlow
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    Mar 6th 2014, 12:20 AM

    Reality check lads. Dominating Latvia is nothing to judge a team by. Serbia are a different animal altogether. Chins up though and onto the qualifiers.

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    Mute collyp
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    Mar 6th 2014, 2:34 AM

    It’s not all about winning ye know! The main thing is we took part.

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    Mute kevin hynes
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    Mar 6th 2014, 3:19 AM

    I wouldn’t actually be too worried bout the front 6 it’s the shocking defending that will screw us, Germany and possibly Poland will destroy us on that defensive performance, looked all over the place at times and remember Coleman is playing with 2 serious central defenders at Everton who will cover the few mistakes he makes, tonight it cost us 2 goals….

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    Mute Daire Stynes
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    Mar 6th 2014, 6:32 AM

    First defeat of many

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    Mute Alonzo Peter
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    Dec 30th 2014, 1:55 AM

    Géarghá le creidmheasa gnó nó cás na Nollag a bhunú
    mar sin déan teagmháil linn anois ag meritsfinancecomopany@gmail.com
    ainm:
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    Go raibh maith agat agus Dia Bless

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    Mute Donie Daniel Courtney
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    Mar 6th 2014, 2:48 PM

    O’Neill has bitten off more than he can chew and just wait until Roy Keane starts acting up again.. The look on O’Neills face in the 2nd half was one of sudden realisation of what he has gotten himself into. Remember he is a novice in mamaging at international level and has the worst squad of players he’s ever had.

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    Mute Pat Lonergan
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    Mar 6th 2014, 7:55 AM

    Yawn

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