1 week Ago
19:24 Oisin Doherty "Declan Rice and Jack Grealish silence Ireland with both goals as Heimir Hallgrimsson opens his account with defeat" - Paul O'Hehir Declan Rice must have wanted to lose the run of himself in front of all those flailing arms giving the one-fingered salute. The gestures came from the travelling support, and were aimed at the Irish fans all around them who had booed Rice's every touch and mere mention of his name. Rice represented Ireland three times under Martin O'Neill before turning his back so, naturally, he was the centre of attention here - but thrived in the spotlight.
After opening the scoring in the 12th minute, he went for one of those wretched 'I'm not celebrating against my former club' celebrations. Pushing his palms downwards and looking to the ground in front of the away end, he downplayed the brilliant strike that put England on their comfortable path to victory. Why? Who knows.
At this stage you'd think the Arsenal man is in for a penny, in for a pound. But even the irate Ireland fans grew tired of booing him and, by the second-half, had more or less given up the chase. Jack Grealish, on the other hand, plays the pantomime villain far better than Rice.
And the playmaker who played all of his underage football with Ireland - up to and including Under-21 level - didn't have any such issues milking his own goal. Just to add insult to injury, Rice was central to it and his lightning quick interplay with..
. Oisin Doherty.
