Germany produced a scintillating display of attacking football on Friday night to demolish Republic of Ireland 6-1 in Dublin.

Marco Reus bagged two excellent goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half, which were followed up by a further four second-half strikes before Andy Keogh headed in a late consolation.

Here, Sports Mole dissects the match and offers some analysis of the 90 minutes.

Ireland:
Possession: 25%
Shots: 6
Shots on target: 2
Corners: 3

Germany:
Possession: 75%
Shots: 13
Shots on target: 7
Corners: 6

Was the result fair?

Absolutely. Aside from the opening half-hour, in which Ireland managed to just about keep them at bay, Germany were the dominant force throughout proceedings. Ireland only really started creating anything when they were 2-0 down and by then the Germans could pick them off at will.

Ireland's performance

Poor in most areas. They were lacking several first-choice players, yes, but apart from being solid in the first 30 minutes they were slow, poor in possession and could not deal with the pressing game of the Germans. They picked up slightly right at the start of the second half but the damage had already been done by Reus.

Germany's performance

Germany played exactly how their lineup should have played. The attacking trio of Reus, Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil were exceptional. They harried the Irish defence and floated all over the pitch to make sure they were very hard to mark. Their pressure finally told after 30 minutes, from which point it was a procession for Joachim Low's men.

Referee's performance

Nicola Rizzoli was guilty of a terrible error just before Reus's first goal. He booked the German for diving after being hauled down by John O'Shea when it should have been a penalty and a red card to the Irishman. However, he did not do much wrong after that and somewhat made up his error.

Sports Mole's man of the match

This award could go to most of the German team today, but it has to be given to Reus, who started the scoring with his first-half brace. The Borussia Dortmund winger was a constant threat with his pace and trickery and probably would have added to his tally had he not been substituted in the second half.

Biggest gaffe

Despite his shocker not having an effect on the eventual outcome, this must go to the referee who decided to book Reus for diving instead of awarding him a penalty and a red card to O'Shea.

What next?

Ireland: Ireland travel to the Faroe Islands on Tuesday on what now must go down as a must-win game. Failure to win could see the Irish with too much to do to finish ahead of Sweden for second spot.

Germany: Germany face Sweden at home on the same day. Victory would put them six points ahead of anyone else in the group with a foot already in the World Cup finals.

Written by
Matt Domm