Qatar may be the 2022 World Cup hosts but Stephen Kenny charged at the visitors like 1970s Brazil opening the scoring early.
The team was strong on paper and that created an odd atmosphere on social media where many were wondering why this was not the team to play Luxembourg.
Although Luxembourg were beating Portugal at the same time Ireland were leading Qatar, Ronaldo not happy. Neither situation lasted very long.
Cristiano Ronaldo is not happy.#LUXPOR #WCQ pic.twitter.com/c3iklyO8Sx
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 30, 2021
The early success for Ireland led to gleeful scenes with everyone looking to rejoin the green bandwagon.
🇮🇪 James McClean scores the opener for @FAIreland.#SCFC 🔴⚪️
pic.twitter.com/npHmqShzjS— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) March 30, 2021
What was the key to Ireland's newfound success, there were some theories?
Proposal: The Republic of Ireland should play all international soccer matches in white
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) March 30, 2021
Most importantly though, nobody got too carried away with a performance against a poor team.
Bazunu is Neuer
— Tommy Rooney (@TomasORuanaidh) March 30, 2021
I texted 6 people in a very giddy manner after the first 5 minutes. They all told me to calm down. They weren’t wrong.
— Seán Denny (@DennyRants) March 30, 2021
Energy is good...
There's ex-pros on here who can explain the tactical stuff more coherently but - in addition to more urgency - looks like the reaction to Saturday is two energetic players in the number 10 position and one up top.
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) March 30, 2021
However, defending is still an issue. Qatar leveled in the opening moments of the second half.
To nobody’s surprise, Qatar are looking the better team in the second half. pic.twitter.com/aqR9XsB3n1
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) March 30, 2021
Time to pay the visitors some respect, they have come a long way.
Qatar have improved immensely since being the worst team in FIFA on the Mega Drive. The EA All Stars used to hammer them
— aidan o'hara (@oharaa) March 30, 2021
The second worst thing to happen in the second half appeared to be a Sky TV outage leaving several channels frozen.
Have all the Irish channels frozen on Sky?
— Philip Nolan (@philipnolan1) March 30, 2021
The good news for those viewers was they missed very little.
I still have RTE, and let me confirm you are missing nothing in the match
— Stephen with a v (@steveohrourke) March 30, 2021
Viewers anxiously refreshed LiveScore fully expecting a Qatari goal, but some cool heads prevailed to find a workaround.
Used to not seeing sections of the second half when the head is down in the stadium but rebooting the TV/internet before realising the game was on Sky is a new excuse
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) March 30, 2021
As the county looks to exit lockdown, everyone is looking for signs that nature is healing and we are all getting back to normal. Ireland playing out 1-1 draws is surely part of that process.
While this is sincerely muck and we could really do with a win, there was never a time in history that this game wouldn't finish 1-1.
— Michael McCarthy (@McCarthyMick) March 30, 2021
Ahhhh, Ireland draw 1-1 and suddenly, all is right with the world again #QATIRL
— Colm Boohig (@ColmBoohig) March 30, 2021
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