Republic of Ireland vs England LIVE: Nations League result and final score as Lee Carsley makes winning start

After all the focus on the soundtrack, Lee Carsley’s first game as Englandmanager was certainly loaded with narrative. The inevitable line is that you couldn’t script this but, well, it’s really the first thing you’d script.

Declan Rice and Jack Grealish scored the goals in a 2-0 England win over Ireland, the national team they both left, to also overcome a constant chorus of boos. If anything, such a response seemed to counter-productively drive them on, in the way that often happens. At least for a time. This win really just evolved into the sort of win over a smaller country that England have long learned to expect under Gareth Southgate, albeit with one important twist. The attacking under Carsley was different throughout and, for a brief period, quite exciting. There was a sense of evolution.

Any sense of competitiveness in this briefly feisty match dissipated with Rice’s superbly taken opening goal. After that, other than trying to discern the nice patterns and the differences to Southgate, it turned into one of those occasions where people will mostly be talking about all of the colour around it. And colour there certainly was.

It wouldn’t have taken too many different turns for Lee Carsley to be on the opposite bench in Dublin this Saturday, for what is now his first match as interim England manager.

The Irish federation maybe just needed to go a bit stronger. The Football Association of Ireland had made Carsley its top target for the manager role, on account of his fine coaching reputation, as well as his background of having 40 caps for Ireland. The 50-year-old has a grandfather from Cork, which gave him a similar decision to make to the time when Jack Charlton’s coaching staff approached him about joining the Irish Under-21s back in 1995. Carsley decided to go for it then. This time, though, he wasn’t so sure.

Those who know the former midfielder say the sort of offer the FAI was talking about didn’t reflect his status as a top target, or even his true worth. This week, the Irish federation and England may start to really see the latter.

In Lee Carsley’s first act as interim England manager, which was an introductory press conference, he said “I understand how an international window works”. He certainly does now.

If there is one reason there should be caution about Carsley getting the job other than results and performances, it certainly isn’t the singing of the national anthem. That should be irrelevant, except it does at least echo this bigger factor.

It is the need to realise that, whether a coach likes it or not, the England manager job is about so much more than football. It is a vessel for all of the country’s political influences to pour their own interests into, given it is still the most visible position in the national game. The role is supposed to stand for something greater, a representation of England, even if the people concerned with this are never going to actually agree what that England is supposed to be.

New interim England manager Lee Carsley has received plenty of media attention ahead of his first match in charge of the Three Lions, with plenty expected of him after his success at U21 level.

And despite catching the eye with his squad announcement at the end of August – having included four uncapped players – there were plenty of eyes on an altogether more trivial decision in the moments before kick-off in Dublin.

Carsley did not take part in the customary singing of the national anthem ahead of his first match in charge, having explained his reasoning in a previous press conference, although all members of the starting XI were singing to a chorus of boos from the crowd in Dublin.

The 50-year-old – who represented Ireland as a player between 1997 and 2008, making 40 appearances – told the media that singing the anthems is “something that I have never done”, either as a player or during his time in charge of England’s youth sides.

Some interesting results so far today in the Nations League.

England’s next fixture takes them back to London, to face Finland at Wembley, on Tuesday 10 September.

Here’s a rundown of all of England’s group-phase fixtures in the Nations League.

10 September – England vs Finland, Wembley Stadium

10 October – England vs Greece, Wembley Stadium

13 October – Finland vs England, Helsinki Olympic Stadium

14 November – Greece vs England, Athens Olympic Stadium

17 November – England vs Republic of Ireland, Wembley Stadium

Lee Carsley is the last in front of the cameras, and he seems happy with the overall performance.

“I thought it was good in parts. You’ve seen some of the things we’ve tried to do,” he said.

“The lads have to take a lot of credit, all of the credit. I think we’ve showed we’ve got some real talent and we can be really pleased with the clean sheet as well,” he added.

“I thought they [Rice and Grealish] took their goals really well. Really well-worked moves and brilliant finishes. I think, moving forward, they can both add a lot more goals to their game.

“Jack definitely doesn’t have anything to prove to us, we can see his quality, but today will have done him the world of good, getting another goal for England and hopefully he can continue that form.

“On a really dry sticky pitch, it’s not ideal for dribblers but I thought Anthony [Gordon] was a real threat. He’s carried on his form from last season and he looks a really dangerous player.

“I think you’ve got to give Ireland credit as well, they are very resilient, they closed the gaps and our space maybe became a bit wider [in the second half].

“We found it a little bit more difficult to get through them but at 2-0 we were quite comfortable.”

More from Grealish and Rice, as the Arsenal man calls it a “really good” evening.

“It was the manager’s first game and we got a win. We’re in the league below where we want to be so we know how important it is to win this group.

“To score alongside Jack, it was a really nice feeling as well.

“It has been really refreshing this week - Lee has been amazing to work with, his meetings have been top and training has been really good.

“It’s been a fresh start, a change and to win for him today and for ourselves to get off to a winning start was the main thing.”

Jack Grealish says he has ‘no bad blood’ towards the Irish fans after receiving boos and a hostile reaction when starting for England against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

Grealish, and England teammate Declan Rice, previously played for Ireland before switching allegiences to England and both men say they were expecting a tense reception at the Aviva Stadium.

Rice sent the Three Lions ahead with a strong and fortuitious strike inside the penalty area but refused to celebrate before Grealish added a second to secure the points in Lee Carsley’s first match in charge.

Roy Keane was not impressed by what he felt was an “awful” second-half performance from England under Lee Carsley against the Republic of Ireland, insisting that his nation was “there for the taking” in Dublin.

The visitors got their Nations League campaign off to a winning start under interim manager Carsley thanks to goals from the returning Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, both scoring against the nation they represented at youth level before half time.

It was an impressive display from England until that point, with Grealish’s goal coming from a slick passing move through midfield, but the play from both sides after the break was scrappy and Ireland were presented with a couple of half-chances to get back into the game.