James McClean stuns Wales and sends Republic of Ireland into play-offs

It was a night of exhilarating joy for the Republic of Ireland and at the final whistle, with players in red shirts collapsing to the ground, excruciating pain for a Wales team whose latest attempt to qualify for a World Cup, desperately wishing to play in their first tournament since 1958, has ended unsuccessfully, once again.

Gareth Bale, like Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush and all those others, will just have to wonder when, if ever, that chance will come and, boy, did Wales miss their most celebrated player during that jarring, nerve‑shredding finale when they seemed to run out of ideas and Tom Lawrence, with one last free-kick to drop into the penalty area, let the nerves get the better of him. His cross missed everyone, went out for a throw-in and there was a roar of joy and relief from the only corner of this stadium that was not a sea of red.

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from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2yavhZS