Determined Ireland frustrate Denmark in Copenhagen

Martin O’Neill’s side offered next to nothing going forward, but Denmark weren’t able to get the better of their solid defence and Ireland will be feeling confident heading into the second leg in Dublin on Tuesday night.

The sides were greeted with a fantastic atmosphere at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and the hosts responded by starting the game on the front foot.

Most of the action in the opening stages took place in Ireland’s half, but there was little in the way of opportunities.

The first chance of the match fell to Denmark on the 12 minute mark. After several failed attempts at balls over the top, Jens Larsen was played in down the left flank and tried his luck with a volley from a tight angle, but Darren Randolph saved well. The rebound fell to Andreas Cornelius, but his effort was too central and Randolph recovered to save once again.

Ireland continued to be on the back foot and Darryl Murphy cut an isolated figure up front.

After a period of sustained pressure, the home side should have taken the lead after 32 minutes. Randolph could only parry an effort from Christian Eriksen back into the penalty area, and Pione Sisto met the ball unmarked, but curled his effort just wide of the post.

Denmark kept Ireland at bay with relative easy, as they were able to clear a number of free-kicks at the first time of asking, but in the final minutes of the half Ireland had their first chance to break the deadlock.

Cyrus Christie did brilliantly down the right to get past Larsen, before attempting to lift the ball over Kasper Schmeichel from a tight angle, but the Danish keeper kept it out. The ball then fell to Jeff Hendrick inside the area, but his shot was deflected wide.

After the break, the game took a very similar pattern to the first 45 minutes. Denmark had the lion’s share of possession, but were constantly frustrated by an unwavering Ireland defence and were struggling to carve out guilt-edged chances.

Ireland had opportunities to send the ball into the box with several free-kicks from deep inside the opposition half, but they failed to capitalise on the set pieces and Schmeichel was untroubled in the Denmark goal.

The hosts showed some nice link up play after 70 minutes, and Yussuf Poulsen, who had come off the bench, went for the shot, but his curling effort trickled wide of Randolph’s post.

Although the majority of the second half was a quiet affair, the final few minutes saw a string of half-chances for both sides.

Robbie Brady sent one of his deep free-kicks into the Denmark box and Shane Duffy met with the ball, but his header was easily caught by Schmeichel.

Moments later down the other end, Poulsen rose to head Larsen’s cross goalwards from six yards out, but Randolph reacted well to tip the header over the bar.

From the resultant corner, the ball fell to Larsen on the edge of the area, and his effort deflected off Christie and could have ended up anywhere, but luckily for Ireland it was wide of the post.

O’Neill will probably be the happier of the two managers as his game plan to frustrate the hosts worked to a tee, and the Green Army will know that any victory at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night will send them to their first World Cup since 2002.