Republic of Ireland secured a well-deserved 2-1 advantage over Bulgaria in Plovdiv in the first leg of the UEFA Nations League Promotion/Relegation Play-Off. Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty scored to help Ireland come from behind after Marin Petkov gave Bulgaria an unexpected lead.
With the first international break of 2025 upon us, Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men travelled to Plovdiv to face Bulgaria with the ambition of retaining their ‘B’ league status in the UEFA Nations League.
The Boys in Green came into this contest seeking to obtain a convincing advantage in maintaining their league status going into the first game of 2025 at the Aviva Stadium, whereas the Bulgarians were eager to utilise home advantage and get a result to edge them closer to ‘B’ league promotion.
As the game commenced, Ireland were immediately on the front foot, looking to stretch the play and hence try to expose the Bulgarian defence from the get-go. The first chance of the game came from the visitors as the class of Finn Azaz saw his inswinging cross find the head of Ryan Manning, who was ultimately unable to trouble the keeper.
With the early momentum in the favour of the Irish, they were dealt an early blow after a momentary lapse of concentration and some timid defending allowed the Bulgarian Filip Krastev to get across the front of the Irish box, who then rolled it back for Marin Petkov to beautifully dispatch his effort past Caoimhin Kelleher, taking the lead against the run of play.
As Hallgrimsson’s side looked evidently stunned by the sudden turn of events, they looked to recapture the lionshare of possession. This was proving to be unharming at first for the Bulgarians who took some inspiration from their early goal. The Bulgarian’s early intensity was causing Ireland issues which saw them struggle to get out and utilise their possession-based aspirations.
As the half progressed, Ireland began to see the proceedings go back in their favour as they remained persistent. As the Irish slowly began to break down the first line of the Bulgarian press, they started to get joy out wide on their hunt for an equaliser. Just as we approached the halfway stage of the first half, it was the brilliant use of the wingers which gave the travelling Irish faithful something to cheer.
The move started from a great switch of play from Matt Doherty, which found the path of Robbie Brady, who then broke into space to swing it into the danger area for Troy Parrott, where he was able to cushion it onto the head of Finn Azaz, who was able to nod it into an empty net leaving the Bulgarian keeper in no man’s land.
With the deficit broken, Ireland saw themselves get more of a foothold of proceedings and hence keeping the Bulgarians at bay. Chances were coming more frequent to the delight of Hallgrimsson. This was predominantly seen after the half hour mark as Troy Parrott made an impressive run in behind the Bulgarian defence, who was unlucky not to find the arriving captain Nathan Collins with his effort being dragged across the box.
Not long after, the Irish reaped the rewards of their continued persistence as they finally took a deserved lead. This move started and ended with yet another deep switch of play from Josh Cullen in which Dubliner Matt Doherty bravely got on the end of after a run from deep himself. As the half drew to a close, there was a lot of positives to take for the Boys in the Green, but this contest was far from over as the Bulgarians were not willing to lie down as they continued to pose a threat of their own.
With the game resuming for the second half, Ireland looked eager to pick up where they left off. This wasn’t to the satisfaction of Irish as the opening 10 minutes of the half appeared cagey with the Bulgarians firmly still in the contest as they began to withhold more possession than they were originally. However, the Irish remained resolute as the half progressed as the Bulgarian possession was coming to no avail. The majority of the play continued in the host’s half with nothing giving for either side.
As the game was coming to an end, the Irish continued to dig in and continued to look the superior of the sides amid the increasingly scrappy conditions. With the loud travelling Irish fans serenading the team to the end, it was looking profoundly likely that Ireland would be bringing their prolonged advantage back to Dublin.
The work for the evening was done as the final whistle blew, and attention is now immediately turning to Sunday’s second leg in Dublin, where Ireland will take a well-deserved one-goal lead. Although the second half lacked the quality of the first, the Irish showed some potential and swagger throughout the game to secure the victory and advance to Sunday’s second leg with the Bulgarians.