England and the Republic of Ireland played out a tame and fairly forgettable international friendly in Dublin on Sunday.
Both sides have more important games coming up in the next few days and it showed as the first half past by with very little incident.
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The only two chances of the opening 45 minutes fell to Ireland’s Daryl Murphy, who was first denied by Joe Hart’s fingertips, although the referee gave a goal kick…
Murphy’s should have done better with his second chance, but the Ipswich striker failed to display the lethal finishing that saw him bag 27 Championship goals last season…
Ireland could argue that they shaded the first half, but England – who are 45 places higher in the FIFA World Rankings – were clearly the better side after the interval.
England’s best chance fell to captain Wayne Rooney, who was nowhere near full sharpness.
The Manchester United skipper was presented with a glorious opportunity by Jordan Henderson’s through pass, but a horrible first touch killed the attack dead…
Moments later, Rooney tried to redeem himself from a free kick, but Keiren Westwood made a comfortable stop…
Rooney remains third on England’s list of all-time leading goalscorers. He needs one to move level with Gary Lineker in second and three to move clear at the top, ahead of Bobby Charlton.
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