Fourteen years after taking Celtic to Seville Chris Sutton has saluted another Martin O’Neill master class.
Nothing but a win away to Wales would keep alive Ireland’s World Cup hopes with James McClean delivering the magical goal in the 57th minute.
Without key players Seamus Coleman, Shane Long and Jon Walters, O’Neill had to dig deep to come up with the plan to secure three points.
Martin O Neill is a genius????????
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) October 9, 2017
Despite qualifying and reaching the last 16 of the European Championships the former Celtic boss has had his critics with Ireland’s form taking a dip in the current campaign after a storming start.
When it comes to a one off match O’Neill has few equals with McClean taking his chance while Shane Duffy and David Meyler snuffed out the Welsh attack.
The win takes Ireland into next Tuesday’s play-off draw with tonight’s final batch of qualifiers revealing the other sides in the draw. Ireland will be unseeded and likely to face Italy, Portugal, Croatia or Denmark.
