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05th Sep 2017

Wes Hoolahan hailed by Irish fans after much-improved performance (so far)… and rightly so

Like a different team.

Conor Heneghan

That’s more like it.

Ireland might not have scored in the opening half of tonight’s crucial World Cup qualifier with Serbia, but the performance is a world away from what we had to put up with in Tbilisi on Saturday night.

The difference?

Well, he’s not solely responsible, but the inclusion of Wes Hoolahan from the start has made a huge difference to Ireland’s attacking play, giving them a level of quality and composure on the ball that simply wasn’t evident against Georgia.

A noticeable increase in urgency and tempo has also made a considerable difference to a far better performance by the Boys in Green, but such has been Hoolahan’s impact, it begs the question why he wasn’t involved three days ago.

Not surprisingly, he was the name on everyone’s lips at the break.

https://twitter.com/CaulkinTheTimes/status/905152788103081984

https://twitter.com/Mclough90/status/905150248087117826

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