Was the West Ham United man to blame for the goal? Not according to Kenny Cunningham.
Speaking on RTE Sport, Kenny Cunningham has lept to the defence of Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
The West Ham United man came under fire for a perceived error as the Irish beat Uruguay 3-1 in a friendly in Dublin on Sunday evening.
Jose Gimenez cancelled out Jon Walter’s stunning opener with a looping header after Randolph ventured off his line to punch a free kick which he subsequently missed.
Plenty of Twitter users let rip at the West Ham man following the incident, but former Premier League defender Cunningham tells RTE Sport that centre-backs Shane Duffy and Kevin Long deserve a slice of the blame for the “ugly goal”.
“I think it’s an obvious thing to say when the keeper’s made a mistake, and yeah, being ultra critical, I’m sure Darren Randolph will look at the goal and think ‘maybe I could have handled the situation a bit better.
“But for me, the defenders in front of him should have done a little bit better as well. It was an untried partnership between Shane Duffy and Kevin Long, and both did very well, but they had a warning a couple of minutes prior when the ball hit the bar.
“It’s an ugly goal to concede but the defenders get a little bit fractured, they should have been together in a line and I think Randolph spotted that we were in trouble and tried to rectify the situation.”
The 30-year-old enjoyed quite a decent season with West Ham last time around, clocking 22 Premier League appearances, but he lost his place to Adrian toward the end of a disappointing campaign overall for the Hammers.
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