It may have come in his 11th cap but David McGoldrick can say his first international goal was well timed, as it earned a point that sustains
Irish belief in qualification for Euro 2020. That ambition looked far-fetched after Fabian Schär shot Switzerland into the lead, but Ireland, second best for much of the game, rallied to earn a draw.
Going into this game Mick McCarthy had not been fooled by his team’s position at the top of Group D, knowing
Ireland had benefited from a more favourable early schedule than their chief rivals, especially Switzerland. The Swiss have played fewer qualifiers because they spent the summer trying to reach Euro 2020 through the Nations League, where they finished fourth as a result of that penalty shootout defeat by
England in June. So the group’s top seeds arrived in
Dublin on a catch-up mission made all the more necessary by their recent draw with Denmark.