Gary Connaughton reporting from the Aviva Stadium
There was sure to be a sense of mixed feelings for Alan Browne at the Aviva on Thursday night.
The Cork man scored an absolutely cracking goal, his fifth for his country. However, it was not enough to stop Ireland from falling to a 2-1 defeat against Norway.
It was a fairly poor team performance from the home side, who apart from a 20 minute period in the second half, never really showed up. Stephen Kenny's side had the better of the opportunities on the night, but two lapses from set-pieces at the other end ensured that they would come out on the wrong end of the result.
Speaking to the media after the game, Browne said that Norway's approach to the game made it difficult for Ireland.
It's always difficult when a team sits in and are compact. Their game plan was to nullify us and they did it quite well because we couldn't break them down. We came out second half, changed a few things and made a few tweaks at halftime, and I think we were the better team for large portions of the second half.
It was another set-piece that cost us. It's a header that falls nicely to him, it's a bit unfortunate. Overall I don't think we were good enough to win the game...
We need a performance right from the start to the finish, but it is difficult when a team sits in, are compact and hard to break down. We saw a lot of the ball without really going anywhere, that probably suited them. They are a threat from set-pieces which we saw today.
17 November 2022; Alan Browne shoots past Martin Ødegaardto score a goal during the International Friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Norway at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
On a personal level, it was a good night for the Preston man.
He started off slowly in the game, struggling to get on the ball and giving it away on a couple of occasions when he did. In saying that, he was excellent in the second half and really improved as the game went on.
The 27-year old has a habit of finding the back of the net when he starts under Stephen Kenny, something he feels will only help his selection chances moving forward. As for Sunday's game against Malta, it is a game the team will be hoping to win to end the year on a high.
It's always nice to score for your country, it's an amazing feeling, but the feeling at the end of the game was one of loss and nobody likes losing. The performance and result are ultimately the most important thing. I don't think we had either of those.
There is good competition for places and it is tough at this level. [Goalscoring] a good thing to have, a good trait. Even if I'm on the bench, he might look to me to come on and get a goal. It's important to keep scoring and add that to my game, keep trying to get on the end of things...
It is only a friendly, but we need to look to get results. That's the most important thing. Come crunch time, that's what we will be looking to do. Performances aside, we always want to put in a good performance, but results are the most important thing. Hopefully we can get one against Malta.
The game against Malta will round out Ireland's year, with the next international break coming in March when France arrive in Dublin for the opening game of the Euro 2024 campaign.
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