FORMER Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr says that Matt Doherty’s performance last night has cranked the pressure up on Seamus Coleman.
Doherty scored Ireland’s equaliser on 85 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Denmark at the Aviva Stadium.
The Wolves player, however, was culpable for Martin Braithwaite’s goal for Denmark 12 minutes earlier on a night when Ireland were consigned to the play-offs.
Coleman was absent due to a suspension following his sending off in last month’s 2-0 defeat by Switzerland and Doherty was handed a chance to shine by boss Mick McCarthy.
“Matt Doherty’s performance tonight has put real pressure on Seamus Coleman,” Kerr said on Off The Ball.
“And Mick is going to have to make that decision. But I think he did enough tonight to earn the starting place for the playoff.
“I feel Doherty did really well in possession of the ball tonight. His passing was clever and he gets up and scores a goal. Once again, it’s a defender scoring a goal for us.
“But that’s for Mick to analyse. I’m just saying, based on what we’ve seen of Doherty so far where after Gibraltar it was easy for Mick to discount the idea of both of them playing together and maybe discount Doherty on the left, tonight he’s put it up to him a bit.”
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