A large amount of the hype surrounding Saturday evening's match between Ireland and England was to do with the return to Landsdowne Road of Declan Rice and Jack Grealish along with England manager Lee Carsley.
The match signalled Carsley's first as it is expected to be the start of a six-game trial for Carsley, which could lead to him being permanently appointed as Gareth Southgate's successor.
Once the action on the pitch began, the gulf in class between the two teams became evident as England began to control the game and proceedings much to the dismay of the large majority of the 50,359 in attendance.
Before the action got underway, there was a moment of confusion for former Irish international Lee Carsley as he mistakenly took a seat in the Irish dugout before the match.
The 50 year-old initially saw the funny side of it as he smirked, but that disappeared almost immediately as he made his ways to the right dugout before the action got underway.
Lee Carsley took his seat on the Ireland bench. #COYBIG 😂pic.twitter.com/e8iAqkb9vS
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 7, 2024
READ HERE: Roy Keane Tears Into The FAI With Brilliant Dig During Ireland v England Build-up
Lee Carsley explains bench mix-up
Speaking to RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue, the England interim boss laughed off his pre-match mix-up:
I just came out and turned right. I was on the bench a lot so I know where the bench is!
🇮🇪 0-2 🏴
"I was on the bench a lot so I know where the bench is!" - It was a happy return to Lansdowne Road for interim England manager Lee Carsley
📱 Match report https://t.co/zSCnqpUsyS poiled-by-couple-of-old-friends/#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/yyyvPbyYCm— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 7, 2024
After the pre-match blunder, Carsley's team were in control of proceeding's from early on and took the lead after 12 minutes through former Irish international Declan Rice, which was quickly followed up by fellow former Irishman Jack Grealish.
From then on, there was very little to report as England took complete control without adding to their lead in what was a very tough test in Heimir Hallgrímsson first competitive match as Ireland boss.
Attention will quickly turn to Tuesday night's huge match in the Aviva against Greece.
