Luxembourg v Ireland live updates: International friendly

Luxembourg 0 Ireland 0

Ireland: O’Leary; O’Shea, O’Brien, Collins (capt), Brady (Manning 21); Knight, Smallbone, Phillips; Parrott, Ferguson, McAteer

Luxembourg: Pereira; Dzogovic, Jans (capt), Korac, Carlson, Bohnert; Moreira, Barreiro, Da. Sinani; Rodrigues, Dardari

43 mins: Parrott breaks through but is tackled heavily by Dzogovic. Free-kick by Smallbone... and Ireland hit the post!

By far the best chance of the match, headed back in and Collins gets good contact on it, so close.

39 mins: A half-chance for Luxembourg, Rodrigues sneaks in a gap between midfield and defence and plays a ball across the six-yard box, attacker can’t get to it though. Ireland have been second best tonight so far, they really need to up it a level.

36 mins: McAteer nearly gives away a big chance at the back but recovers to just give away a corner. Korac connects with the corner but goes out for another one. They mess up the second one though.

33 mins: The two captains collide as Jans goes in on Collins and leaves him with a sore one. Knight gets away with one, Sinani nearly grabbed the ball off him advancing on goal but he got a free-kick out.

29 mins: Finally a chance and shot on goal, for Luxembourg. Sinani breaks through the midfield press and takes a shot from distance which is very well hit, good save by O’Leary.

27 mins: Some nice turns by Philips in midfield, who has looked very comfortable on the ball on his first start. But zero shots on target in the match in 27 minutes...

23 mins: Clever ball in behind by Knight just runs into the keeper but the right idea. Then Ireland win the ball from the press but the pass is overhit to Smallbone, sloppy.

20 mins: A long hopeful ball goes out of play by Brady as there is more intensity in the protests against Rodrigues than there is on the pitch, with the crowd holding up red cards.

An early sub for Ireland as unfortunately Brady goes off injured after pulling something. Manning coming on.

16 mins: Rodrigues takes a shot from distance, but it goes low and well wide of the goal. Probably should have left it for Bohnert in behind. Some tension between Parrott and Borac over a physical clash.

13 mins: A stalemate so far, very much an end-of-season feel to it. Luxembourg passing the ball around better than Ireland, Ireland happy to keep their shape and they haven’t caused them too much to worry about. A decent cross by Jans is well cleared by O’Shea. Rodrigues getting jeered.

6 mins: Lots of possession early for Luxembourg, Brady gives away a foul in a dangerous area on Sinani. No chance to speak of yet though.

3 mins: An early corner for Luxembourg, they try a short corner routine but it doesn’t come off.

The teams are coming out on the pitch, kick-off in five minutes.

Luxembourg protest that says “Red card for violence against women”

“He’s been with us supporting, always positive, always keeping up the standards for all this time” 👏🧤

Heimir Hallgrímsson gives his thoughts ahead of kick-off with Max O’Leary handed his first Ireland start 🤝 pic.twitter.com/V8iSH8ycaj — Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) June 10, 2025

Today is Hallgrímsson’s birthday:

Sending birthday wishes to the gaffer! 🥳🎉 pic.twitter.com/dnIF9IZR8s — Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) June 10, 2025

He is 58 years old. After losing his first two matches as head coach, Ireland have won four, drawn one, lost two of the next seven games. Much improved and he would love to win another one on his birthday.

Gavin Cummiskey reports that Ireland have been training in a 4-4-1-1 in training without the ball, switching to 3-4-2-1 with the ball, Smallbone and Ferguson the two.

It will be interesting to see if John Patrick gets a cap tonight, Hallgrímsson suggested this game may come to soon for him:

“He wanted to commit to Ireland. I think he had two or three other nations to choose from and that is something as an association we need to look at because there are going to be a lot of dual nationalities in the future.

“A good kid, he obviously has to grow a little bit more as a player to be starting for Ireland, but we thought it was a good moment to look at him, to see him and he’s done well in training. But we see he needs to improve in certain areas and that is the message to take home.”

John Patrick. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Luxembourg head coach Luc Holtz has defended his decision to continue selecting Gerson Rodrigues despite a crowd protest over the striker’s presence in last Friday’s 1-0 loss to Slovenia.

Rodrigues was given an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, the 2020 Miss Luxembourg, Emilie Boland.

In April, Rodrigues lost his appeal against the charges and subsequent fines.

[ Luxembourg head coach defends decision to continue selecting Gerson RodriguesOpens in new window ]

Luxembourg's Gerson Rodrigues. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

STARTING XI | Luxembourg v Ireland

Heimir Hallgrímsson has made five changes for the friendly tonight as Killian Phillips makes his first start for Ireland 👌

Six years after his first call-up in May 2019, Max O'Leary makes his first appearance, congratulations Max 💚🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/ReSBpA9U1a — Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) June 10, 2025

Ireland team is out. Rodrigues starts for Luxembourg despite the controversy surrounding him. Max O’Leary makes debut, Phillips first start.

Here is the match preview from Gavin Cummiskey.

"Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson invited the travelling media to watch the Monday morning session at Stade de Luxembourg, where the bones of a potential line-up played the rest of his 24-man panel.

“Bosun Lawal and John Joe Patrick Finn anchored midfield for the orange bibs but neither is expected to win a first cap against the Grand Duchy, certainly not from the start.

“The other nine on show, however, could feature when Hungary come to Dublin for the crucial opening World Cup qualifier on September 6th.”

[ Heimir Hallgrímsson unlikely to spring a surprise against LuxembourgOpens in new window ]

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Ireland’s game against Luxembourg, an international friendly to round off the season, at the Stade de Luxembourg. Kick-off is at 7.45pm. After a 1-1 draw against Senegal on Friday, the Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men will look to get a win under their belt in Luxembourg. Ireland have beaten their opponents in six out of seven games in their history, but lost to Luxembourg in 2021 under Stephen Kenny, which will in memory. Expect a few new faces to get a run out in the last game before Ireland welcome Hungary for an all-important World Cup qualifier in September.

The teams will follow when they are announced.

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