Reuters
Dublin, Nov 17: Ireland beat Bosnia 2-0 to qualify for their second successive European Championship finals here Monday evening, progressing 3-1 on aggregate after a Jon Walters brace secured a second leg play-off win at the Aviva Stadium here.
Walters, back from suspension, converted a penalty in the first half before adding a second 20 minutes from time to send Ireland back to the European Championships where they suffered a swift exit in 2012.
“It’s amazing. Every single player’s been part of this. Now we can put right what happened at the last European championships,” Walters said in a pitch-side interview.
Ireland’s chances of even reaching the play-offs looked in peril midway through the campaign but the coaching duo of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane, recruited at considerable expense, put some shape into a side that went on to record a shock victory over World Champions Germany last month.
It may not have been especially pretty but even without the vast experience of John O’Shea and Shay Given, a makeshift partnership of Ciaran Clark and Richard Keogh defended manfully in front of Darren Randolph in both legs as Ireland managed the tie well.
Ireland, unbeaten at home in the group stages, join fellow play-off winners Hungary at France 2016 while the final two spots will be decided Tuesday when Sweden travel to Denmark and Ukraine play away to Slovenia, both defending narrow first leg leads.