This was a very different style of match to England's previous game, in Portugal, being scrappy and disjointed. They never reached the same dizzy heights in Dublin as they had in Lisbon, but they always had enough to beat the battling Irishmen.

England now had to adapt to a far more traditional opponent and gone was the continental man-to-man play favoured last weekend. Having said that, there was still enough to encourage England fans into believing the side was beginning to knit together.

The Irish began like demons. Roared on by their passionate crowd they tore into England's defence. Unaffected by a third-minute ankle injury to Haverty, which necessitated him being replaced by Whelan, they put all the pressure on England. However, the visitors responded perfectly to this pressure by scoring in the eighth minute with their first positive attack on Dwyer's goal.

A shot by the previous week's hat-trick hero, Johnny Byrne, was blocked but George Eastham was on the spot to volley home the rebound. That gave England the tonic they needed and the three inside-forwards, in particular, were prominent.

Browne had terrible problems in containing the lively Byrne and after 22 minutes the centre-forward scored England's second goal. Gordon Milne put Jimmy Greaves clear on the left and when the centre came over, Byrne scored, although it took him three attempts before he finally forced the ball past Dwyer.

This goal prompted the Irish to make a tactical switch, moving Browne to full-back and Cantwell to the middle of the defence. Some of the England approach-play was a joy to watch at this stage with Milne, Greaves, Byrne and Eastham always involved. Unfortunately, with a two-goal lead behind them, they tended to relax and dwell on the ball for too long. Peter Thompson was guilty of this and as the game wore on Bobby Charlton too often wandered into the middle causing the team to lose its shape.

What was really needed was for Charlton to stay wide and therefore stretch the home defence using the whole width of the pitch.

As a result of this tactical error the Irish were allowed to claw their way back into the match and more was now seen of their attack. England's defence was often caught too square and three minutes from half-time, Strahan moved through to pull a goal back. The wing-half picked the ball up inside his own half and ran at England's defenders. Ron Flowers, Bobby Moore and Ray Wilson all back-pedalled without making a challenge and they were punished when Strahan fired in his shot. He miscued his effort but luck was on his side as the ball squirmed past new cap Tony Waiters.

After the interval, Ireland again began the half in storming fashion. Strahan twice more went close as the shirt-sleeved crowd revelled in the action and the warmth of the day. But as in the first half, England came up with the perfect response.

Probably the best move of the match was begun by Milne in the 55th minute. His pass to Thompson set the move in motion down the right. The ball flowed back to Milne, inside to Byrne and on to Eastham, who had moved out to the right. When Eastham's cross came over, Greaves was there to apply the finishing touch in his best style.

For the rest of the match, other chances fell England's way with George Cohen shooting just wide and Greaves spurning two easy chances with his head. There was a general air of frustration at these unconvincing attacks, but England gave little away at the back. Flowers, on his recall, despite a lot of effort, never looked comfortable as Moore's partner.

England now went on to a four-match summer tour of the Americas where, amongst others, they faced mighty Brazil.
  

Goals from George Eastham and Johnny Byrne gave England a 2-1 half-time lead and Jimmy Greaves wrapped it up in the fifty-fifth minute when he put the finishing touch to a classic five-man move down the right wing involving Milne, Thompson, Byrne and Eastham. Manchester United skipper Noel Cantwell switched from left-back to the middle of the Irish defence in a bid to control Byrne, who was at his brilliant best as he tormented his markers with subtle touches and clever changes of pace.  It was not lost on the spectators jammed into Dalymount Park in Dublin that their defence was being tormented by a player with strong Irish ancestry. Tony Waiters, a lifeguard on the Blackpool beach when he was not guarding the Blackpool goal, played the first of his five England games at the back of the England defence.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG