McCarthy sees 4 minutes as Ireland make hard work of Macedonia

Ireland drew level at the top of Group B with Slovakia and Russia with a 2-1 win against Macedonia at Lansdowne Road. In a frantic opening, it took a minute 22, seconds for Aidan McGeady get Ireland off to the perfect start. Kevin Doyle nodded the ball down to himself after a high ball and laid the ball off to McGeady to the left of the D. The Spartak winger flicked the ball inside and fired the ball into the corner past the helpless Edin Nuredinoski, who got a hand to it but could not keep it out.

On six minutes after Ireland were in a familiar position again, this time on the right side with Damien Duff cutting inside and firing at Nuredinoski, who gathered the ball at the second attempt. It would be a similar story throughout the half as the Macedonian number 1 failed to gather a number of shots at the first attempt. And to Ireland's credit, they didn't sit back on and continued with an attacking mentality. Ten minutes in Nuredinoski was called into action again. This time McGeady played the ball wide to Kevin Kilbane who whipped in a cross for Doyle, whose header had the keeper scrambling to push the ball behind as Robbie Keane rushed in at the back post.

If there was a negative for Trappatoni it came when when Doyle went down and signaled straight away . The Wolves attacker seemed to and was replaced by .

Macedonia were limited to two long rang efforts from Ivan Trichkovski. The first was gathered comfortably by Irish keeper Keiren Westwood, but the second left the Coventry keeper stuck to his line as he missed the far post with a bending effort.

Nuredinoski gifted Ireland a second on 20 minutes when he failed to hold a Darren Gibson free kick and Keane rushed in to poke the ball home for 2-0. And Ireland didn't let up for the rest of the half. Five minutes later, Ireland went the length of the field in a lightning break. Richard Dunne found Duff 25 metres from his own goal and the Fulham winger chested the played down before finding full back Kevin Foley whose sublime first time pass found Keane inside the Macedonian half. Keane's delightful first time ball found Long on the run and the Reading striker took on the centre half before cutting inside and putting the ball just wide of the keeper's far post. But for the remaining 20 minutes Ireland offered little

As the half wore on, the entensity which saw Ireland cruise to a 2-0 lead dropped, but Ireland were still a threat. A Westwood free kick for offside was flicked on by Long in the air to Keane, but the West Ham striker failed to connect properly with the ball and it went high and wide. And Ireland were made to pay for a slip in concentration just before the half when Trichkovski was third time lucky after Goran Pandev played the midfielder in. He stepped inside Richard Dunne and slid the ball net past Westwood.

Five minutes into the game Boban Grncharov caught Long in the side of the face with a high foot, but the Hungarian official deemed a yellow card sufficient punishment but Ireland continued to draw the Macedonian team onto them as they gave the ball away in the final third. On 57 minutes the Irish fans responded after some McGeady magic down the left wing and a delightful chip into the box found Duff at the back post, who cut inside before shooting wide of the far post.

When Duff broke down the right on 63 minutes, he found Keane on the edge of the box, but his attempt to play in a free Long coming in from the left, with the ball ricocheting off the inside of the defenders right leg and Nuredinoski gathered. At the other end Macedonia were wasteful with a number of chances with the lively Trichkovski and Pandev causing the defense problems. As the game approached the final quarter hour, Ireland got deeper and deeper and when Trichkovski brilliantly controlled a Muhamed Demri ball over the top of the Irish defense, it took a great save from Westwood to retain Ireland's lead.

The game was crying out for some creativity to inject some spark into the Irish game, but Keith Fahey was given the nod by Trapattoni with James McCarthy having to look on from the sideline. Fahey wasted wasted free kick on the edge of the Macedonian box before the Irish crowd rose to acclaim the arrival on the international scene of McCarthy. Four minutes of normal time remaining was hardly enough for the young Wigan player, but on a night where Ireland clawed their way back to the top of Group B, it may be a fitting start for the youngster. Ireland are now level with Slovakia and Russia, heading into Tuesday's friendly with Uruguay where Ireland may see how good McCarthy may be.

Ireland Class leaves England's Grand Slam in Ruins as 24-8 defeat flatters Johnson

Ireland left England's Grand Slam hopes in tatters when Martin Johnson's side were on the wrong side of a 24-8 hiding at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. For Declan Kidney, it is the prefect end to a somewhat disappointing Six Nations Championship and now looks to August when they take on Scotland, England and France twice before they begin their World Cup campaign against Eddie O' Sullivan and the United States in September.

English Indiscipline six minutes in set Ireland on their way with a Jonathan Sexton penalty. The referee adjudging the England to be offside and Sexton made no mistake to give Ireland a 3-0 lead. There was no sign of the shaky kicking that saw Sexton miss a penalty late in the game against Wales last week and Sexton added a second penalty 10 metres inside the left hand touchline, just outside the English 22 to edge Ireland to a 6-0 margin after 13 minutes.

On 20 minutes it looked as if Brian O'Driscol had crossed over and in doing so become the tournaments all time highest try scorer, with 25 tries but the touch judge said the pass that sent him clear was forward. The referee called play back however for an English infringement and Sexton made it 3/3 to send Ireland into a 9-0 lead.

And Ireland grew from there. Following a fluffed effort from Toby Flood in front of the posts Ireland burst clear. First Paul O' Connell, and then Donncha O' Callaghan kicked on to the English five metre line before England cleared. The clearance only found Jaime Heaslip who ran at the English defense. When Ireland recycled the referee blew for offside giving Sexton the free kick on the English 22. A quick tap from Sexton followed and the Leinster outhalf found Tommy Bowe who stepped inside the English defense to touch down left of the posts. Sexton's conversion shaved the wrong side of the left post, but Ireland were well deserving of their 14-0 lead on 27 minutes.

Flood made up for his earlier miss on the half hour when he split the posts from 45 metres and after England's scrum half Ben Young was sin binned for throwing the ball into the crowd, Sexton kicked the penalty to stretch Ireland's lead to 17-3.

Ireland were cruising at this stage and could have been further in front after a Trimble break from the restart resulted in an Ireland scrum 30 metres from the English line. Heaslip took the ball off the back of the scrum and passed outside to O'Connell who in turn found Wallace on his shoulder who raced for the line. As the Irish support debated whether or not he had touched down or not, it was the referee again who called play back for another forward pass, this time from O' Connell to Wallace. A relieved England kicked the ball into touch from the resulting scrum to bring an electric first half to an end.

Ireland began the second half as they finished the first, laying siege to the England line, and it was only a matter of time before theta crossed the English line again. They didn't have to wait long as on 45 minutes crossed the whitewash for the second time. Eoin Reddan found Brian O' Driscoll off the back of the ruck and the Irish captain popped the ball back for Sexton who fed O'Callaghan and when his pass failed to go to hand, the opportunity seemed lost.

But O'Driscoll isn't one of the world's most talented players for nothing and the centre gathered and dived for the corner to become all time leading try scorer with 25 tournament tries. Sexton added the conversion from the touchline to put Ireland into a 24-3 lead England would not come close to.

But to England's credit, they found themselves back in the game when Reddan's pass following an Irish lineout found Steve Thompson, and the substitute prop raced clear to touch down with fellow substitute Johnny Wilkinson missing the conversion to close to the gap to 24-8 with 54 minutes played. Ireland never really regained the composure and fluidity that saw them dominate England in the opening 50 minutes after that with both sides failing to get into any real rhythm.

As Ireland seemed happy to keep England at bay with stout defending, Irish coach Declan Kidney had the luxury of withdrawing Sexton for Ronan O'Gara, whose kicking to the corners pinned England back inside their own 22 when they looked to have broken the Irish

With the game inching closer and England's Grand Slam ambitions in tatters, Ireland came closest to scoring. Keith Earls received the ball on his own ten metre line and although it seemed he had the legs on the English defenders he opted to take the ball into contact rather than kick on and the attack fizzled out. In the end Ireland kicked to touch to the rapturous applause of the Irish faithful. An incredible performance by Ireland, and one they will hope will spur on their World Cup hopes at the end of the year.