Promising start for Lee Carsley as key England decisions pay off in routine win over Ireland

Sure as Guinness runs through the taps of The Temple Bar, you could’ve bet your last Euro that one of England’s Ireland old boys would grab the headlines in Dublin on Saturday night.

And in the end, it was all three, Declan Rice and Jack Grealish setting Lee Carsley on course to a comfortable 2-0 Nations League victory in the interim boss’s first game in charge.

Rice, whose switch of allegiance in 2019 caused such a storm, scored the opener and then made the second for Grealish, who represented Ireland at youth level and here delivered a joyous, throwback performance from a roaming No10 berth.

Between them, the pair quieted what had been a predictably hostile Aviva Stadium in the midst of a dominant English first-half display, before Ireland’s improvement after the break gave their own new coach, Heimir Hallgrimsson, something on which to build.

Whether tougher tests await Carsley remains to be seen. The second tier of this competition ought to hold few demons for the European Championship runners-up and we do not yet know how long the 50-year-old will get in post.

As auditions go, though, this was a promising start, Carsley’s team, for 45 minutes at least, delivering on his pledge to play exciting, attacking football on return to the nation for whom won 40 caps.

Rice earned three in friendlies as a teenager before committing to the country of his birth and, in truth, could probably have done without the scrutiny of this fixture right now.

He was, by his own assessment, short of his best at the Euros and has not started the season well with Arsenal, sent off against Brighton a week ago and now suspended the north London derby when club football resumes. This was more like it, though, the 25-year-old nominally the most defensive of an adventurous midfield but finding plenty of time and licence to charge forward from deep.

Grealish, by contrast, wanted this game desperately, having been stunned by his omission from the Euro 2024 squad and knowing that with Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden all to return opportunities to impress could be rare even now he is back in the fold.

One banner held in the Ireland end ahead of kick-off depicted the pair as snakes and certainly Grealish was back to his slippery best, carrying the ball with purpose and gliding past players with an ease that was once his trademark.

This was the player many feared lost to system and sanitisation at Manchester City and clearly the 28-year-old relished the responsibility and freedom of his central brief, one of several significant calls from Carsley that brought instant results.

Among the others was the decision to return Trent Alexander-Arnold to right-back and to start Anthony Gordon on the left. Gareth Southgate’s misuse of the former and neglect of the latter in Germany this summer had been two of the main gripes held by supporters and critics alike.

Here, they repeatedly combined as England’s attacks quickly shifted from deep right to high left, Alexander-Arnold showing he does not need to be carded as a central midfielder to dictate matches and Gordon proving himself the pacy outlet the Euro 2024 iteration of this team lacked.

The Liverpool man’s pass which led to the opener was a stunner and in truth, Gordon should have done better than slide at Caoimhin Kelleher in the home goal. The winger was sharp, though, keeping the ball alive and when Harry Kane’s shot was half-blocked, Rice reacted best to sweep home. The lack of a celebration from the Arsenal midfielder was a shame on the pantomime front, but perhaps for the best in terms of riot aversion.

There was no chance, though, of Grealish's character permitting him to show such restraint when he added the second, steering low into the corner at the end of a terrific move between Rice and Gunners team-mate Bukayo Saka on the right.

If there was one regular critique of Southgate that could be thrown at Carsely here, then it came in his delayed use of his bench as Ireland grew and England’s performance went stale.

Eventually, debutants Morgan Gibbs-White and Angelo Gomes added some late zest and control, with Saka and substitutes Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze all going close to adding a third late on.