The Republic of Ireland answered the question of whether they would turn up at all by winning comfortably, beating Israel in their Nations League Group 3 fixture in Debrecen, Hungary, with a first half that settled the contest long before the end.
The build-up had been dominated by something other than football. Irish support for the people of Gaza had turned the fixture into a battle of conscience, and the match came close to being abandoned on Saturday when the goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu made himself unavailable for selection. His decision prompted emotional exchanges among players and management, and only after four hours of debate did the squad resolve to play on, holding a vote with what the FAI chief executive, David Courell, described as a significant majority in favour. Heimir Hallgrimsson called it one of the most challenging weeks of his time as a coach, and he responded with five changes to the side that had lost meekly to Kosovo, including dropping the forward Finn Azaz to the bench. Azaz, of Southampton, whose mother has Israeli citizenship, was reported to have made an impassioned contribution to Saturday’s discussion, and Ireland named just one reserve goalkeeper.
The pre-match rituals carried their own weight. Irish staff faced away from the pitch while their national anthem was played, and Ireland’s players, all wearing black armbands, stared at the ground during Israel’s. There was no exchanging of pennants and no shaking of hands, with both squads hurried away from the centre circle into their own huddles. The atmosphere in the near-empty ground was, in its way, reminiscent of a match played during the Covid period: every word uttered was audible. Israel, the nominal home side, were allowed a small delegation of about 150 fans, while two blocks away stood the Irish contingent, around a dozen people who had got into the ground despite the FAI’s decision not to bring an away allocation.
Once the football started, Ireland were strong and assertive from the off, and their work was done inside 11 first-half minutes. Troy Parrott opened the scoring in the 14th minute, turning home a low shot through the body of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz after impressive work on the right by wing-back James Abankwah. Two minutes later the lead was doubled when Adam Idah, running on the shoulder of the last defender, collected a smart through ball from Jack Moylan and wrapped a calm finish inside Peretz’s left-hand post. In the 25th minute Moylan had a goal of his own, his fourth in as many caps, seizing on a loose ball after Israel failed to clear a Caoimhín Kelleher kick, driving 25 yards into the box and shooting low into the net. Moylan wheeled away to the corner flag, took off his black armband, waved it at the Israeli support and kissed it.
Israel made no impact on the match before the interval but emerged with a higher tempo afterwards. The coach, Ran Ben Simon, made an attacking shift, sending on Dor Peretz into midfield at the break, and he almost immediately drew the best from Kelleher with a strong hit from the edge of the box that the Brentford goalkeeper sprang to his right to poke behind. Shortly afterwards Kelleher repeated the save, with less intensity, to deal with a long-range effort from Eliel Peretz. That 10-minute passage of pressure was all Israel could muster, and Idah almost made it four at the end of it, heading on to the roof of the net. The final stages dissolved into infrequent scrapping as noise grew among the Israeli supporters, including what sounded like chanting for the IDF. It was not a match that will linger long in the memory, and the noise surrounding it left a bad taste.