Attendance: 12,083

This is not a warm up. This is the real crowd watching the match...

Overview
Score: Ireland 5 - 0 Northern Ireland
Attendance: 12,083
Fact: three Irish players didn't turn up

Care to take a guess why there was such a poor turn out for last night's Nation's Cup game between north and south, the first since 1995?

1 Ticket prices
When the Nations Cup began there were huge complaints about the price of tickets: prices had been set at €75 and higher.

But in fairness, the FAI (Football Association of Ireland) recognised the issue and prices were reduced almost immediately. One month before the first game, tickets were reduced to €50 for Category A (a reduction of 9.1%) and €35 for Category B (a reduction of 12.5%); furthermore a family of four could get in for €90, while seats in the school boy / school girl section were available for a tenner.

Not cheap but fairly reasonable.

Since then prices have been slashed in an attempt to get people into the ground:
May 25 - Wales v Scotland, kick-off: 19.45, Tickets from €20
May 27 - Northern Ireland v Wales, kick-off: 19.45, Tickets from €20
May 29 - Republic of Ireland v Scotland, kick-off: 18.30, Tickets from €30

2 Northern Ireland supporter's club boycott over travel costs and sercurity concerns
The Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters Club boycotted the game citing the costs associated with travelling to the game, meaning that only 210 supporters were scheduled to board designated IFA (Irish Football Association) buses. This was much to the dismay of the IFA (Irish Football Association) which stated the following:

The Association is disappointed at the decision taken.

The Irish FA would like to reconfirm that the decision to link tickets with organised transport was taken in the interest of safety and security for our fans and in consultation with the PSNI and Garda. (Newsletter.co.uk)

3 No one cares about soccer anymore
We care about Leinster winning the Heineken Cup, the Queen planting a tree in the Park and Obama's reaction to Jedward.

Maybe but still...

4 Ongoing battles between IFA and FAI over nationality and the chosen declaration of players, politics, yada yada
Increasingly bitter battles have raged in recent weeks over the declaration of players. Darron Gibson, Shane Duffy, Marc Wilson, Caniel Kearns and Paul George are all Northern Ireland born players who have declared for the Republic in recent times. According to the BBC two more players NI players - Daniel Devine and Shane Ferguson - are looking to switch to the Republic.

Players can choose to play for either side because of the Good Friday Agreement which provides for Northern Ireland-born people to claim either British or Irish nationality. This has been recognised by FIFA in its own ruling on the issue.

Adding fuel to the fire the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters Club appealed to FIFA in an open letter to the Irish News to end what it calls "football apartheid in Ireland".

Sorry what?

5 Unpopularity of the Nations Cup and fact that England chose not to participate
Attendance figures have been low throughout the tournament. 19,783 turned up for the opening game between Ireland and Wales and this figure hasn't been topped (nor is it likely to be).

The competition would have been given a big boost had England, (arguably) the dominant power in world football, signed up as well but the Football Association again bowed to club pressure and cited fixture congestion as the reason for not taking part in the event.

Oh well. See Should England have entered the Carling Nations Cup? (Fooball.co.uk)

6 Even Irish players aren't bothered to turn up
James McCarthy, Marc Wilson and Jonathan Walters were called up but didn't show. Marc Wilson had even been named to start at left back on the team sheet but had to be replaced at the last minute by Stephen Ward.

To make matters worse Celtic's Antony Stokes stayed away because of "tiredness".

Fyi Ward, who was grew up in Portmarnock and played for Home Farm, Portmarnock A.F.C and Bohemians before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers, scored the opening goal in the game.

Here's a list of those players who togged out last night:
Republic of Ireland: Given (Manchester City); McShane (Hull City), Kelly (Fulham), Delaney (Ipswich Town), Ward (Wolves); Coleman (Everton), Foley (Wolves), Andrews (Blackburn), Treacy (Preston North End); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Cox (West Brom). Subs: Lawrence (Portsmouth) for Coleman (55 mins), Keogh (Wolves) for Keane 62 mins), Hunt (Wolves) for Foley (70 mins), Forde (Millwall) for Given (72 mins).

Northern Ireland: Blayney (Linfield); Thompson (Watford), Cathcart (Blackpool), McAuley (West Brom), Hodson (Watford); Carson (Ipswich Town), Clingan (Coventry City), Davis (Rangers), Gorman (Wolves); Feeney (Oldham Athletic), McQuoid (Millwall). Subs: Norwood (Manchester United) for McQuoid (half-time), Coates (Crusaders) for Gorman (55 mins), McGinn (Celtic) and Boyce (Werder Bremen) for Feeney (72 mins), Garrett (Linfield) for 76 mins).

And finally after all that... some reasons to be happy
Ireland won the game which gives momentum going into the must win Euro Qualifier against Macedonia next week.

Robbie Keane showed form and scored 2 goals.

Giovanni Trapattoni is taking no nonsense anymore:

We called these players, they didn't answer, they didn't come. We will have to decide why we call them up next time.

This is their federation, the FAI. McCarthy, Wilson and Walters didn't come, they didn't bother answering. We have been watching these players over one month, two months.

If they are injured that is okay but they must come to us and see our doctor. It is about respect. It shouldn't happen anywhere, not just Ireland. (RTE News)