The Rep of Ireland's Goals Dried Up

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill and his assistant Roy Keane parted ways with the FAI after another poor performance away to Denmark in Aarhus on Monday night. The abject display capped a miserable year for O'Neill with the Irish soccer team suffering relegation from their Nations League group and managing to win just one of their last eleven games.

O'Neill did have success with the Republic of Ireland since he became manager in November 2013. A 3-1 aggregate win over Bosnia and Herzegovina saw his side qualify for Euro 2016 where they went on to defeat Italy 1-0 in their final group game before eventually losing to France. During qualification for the tournament, the Republic of Ireland managed to beat Germany for the third time in the nation's history.

After Denmark thrashed the Irish 5-1 in the qualification play off for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the team's fortunes turned dramatically. High-profile retirements such as that of the under-used Wes Hoolahan saw the goals dry up. In the whole of 2018, the team only scored 4 goals with only one of them coming in a competitive fixture. A string of terrible displays and dwindling attendances at the Aviva stadium convinced the FAI that change was badly needed.