Bulgaria 1-2 Ireland
Heimir Hallgrímsson will be content to see his Ireland team to half-time in their Nations League playoff ahead in the tie against Bulgaria.
The Boys in Green made things difficult for themselves, going 1-0 down in the opening 10 minutes after some sloppy defending allowed Marin Petkov to put the hosts ahead in Plovdiv.
However, Ireland showed admirable resolve to fight back and were full worth for their half-time lead after two tidy strikes from Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty.
The ball from Josh Cullen 😮💨
The bravery and header from Matt Doherty 💪
Another delightful goal has Ireland in front at the break ☘️pic.twitter.com/9SWJ3uolRg
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) March 20, 2025
Azaz was man-of-the-match on the night he scored his first international goal but his inability to affect the game in the second half was symptomatic of how the contest dramatically changed after the break.
What a well worked goal from Ireland, with Brady, Parrott and Azaz showing their quality 👏
Brilliant cross from Brady to find Parrott who was so composed in tee'ing up Azazpic.twitter.com/oPTIuDQjlY
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) March 20, 2025
A scrappy second-half was rife with stoppages, as Bulgaria were reduced to repeated cynical fouls in their efforts to force a way back into the game.
Robbie Brady was left bloodied, while Ryan Manning and Evan Ferguson were both in the wars, in a second half where Ireland created almost nothing from open play in the face of brute force and physicality from the hosts.
Speaking to RTÉ post-match, Heimir Hallgrímsson was delighted with the result of Thursday's game. However, he did admit that he had been left somewhat frustrated by the second half and encouraged his team to up the energy for Sunday's second leg in Dublin.
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Heimir Hallgrímsson gives honest assessment of Ireland win in Plovdiv
Heimir Hallgrímsson spoke to RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue after Thursday night's big win in Plovdiv.
Hallgrímsson said he was delighted with the response of his players to Bulgaria's early opener, and that they had shown their character in fighting back to a half-time lead.
"I thought first half was really good," Hallgrímsson said, "Even if we were really unlucky they scored from their first attack. But good response, good character, good deep runs and crosses in the first half.
"The game wasn't really started when [Bulgaria scored]. I was just hoping we would continue what we planned to do, and we did. There were some really good moves and some really good play...what we wanted them to do. We were really happy at half-time."
Despite being very happy with his side's first half showing, Hallgrímsson said that the drop-off in intensity was something that could not be repeated going forward.
A bit less of that in the second [half]. Obviously [Bulgaria] needed a goal. Then again, pretty good defensive performance second-half.
Game management, we got too passive in the second half, especially defensively. We pressed them well in the first half.
It's always when you're leading that stuff like this happens automatically. But it shouldn't. We should be more brave when we're defending and press higher.
For example, building up from their goal kicks was pretty good in the first half, how it looked when we won the ball. We should have done more of that when we were leading, even in the last minutes of the game.
Nonetheless, Hallgrímsson rightly agreed with O'Donoghue that a win is a win, and that his men had battled well to get the job half-done away from home.
The second leg takes place on Sunday evening, with kick-off at the Aviva Stadium at 7:45pm.
