The Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson openly admitted to the tactics employed against Portugal at Estádio José Alvalade.
Battening down the hatches from kick-off, Ireland settled for 36 per cent possession and weathered 77 attacks with the 28th of 29 attempts on Caoimhín Kelleher’s goal resulting in the Rúben Neves header that settled this World Cup qualifier in Lisbon.
“It’s painful, really painful and a heartbreaking result,” said Hallgrímsson. “Sometimes we as coaches try to look at performances when we lose games - what we tried to do tonight, our game plan worked.
“The team effort was excellent. Being so close [to a 0-0 result] and ending up with nothing, going back to Ireland with nothing is painful.
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“Fatigue played a part in it,” he added. “There is so much quality in the Portugal team. But the gameplan worked how we planned it. We forced them to the outside and we dealt with their crosses. Once we won the ball, Chieo Ogbene and Festy [Ebosele] were explosive on the flanks.
“It takes a lot of energy to play like that and when in possession sometimes we lost the ball too quickly.”
From here in Ireland cannot afford mistakes in their last three matches, starting with a victory over Armenia at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday before Portugal come to Dublin in November and the final game against Hungary in Budapest.
“It will be a different game on Tuesday. Armenia played a good game against Hungary, it could have gone both ways [Hungary won 2-0]. A tough team and we should know now how good they are.
“We need to leave all the pain and frustration we are feeling in Portugal and focus on Armenia at home.”
The wonder now is if this Ireland team has the resolve to overcome Armenia and Hungary on November 16th, to secure a place in the World Cup play-offs next March.
“Yes, definitely [we can qualify],” said Hallgrímsson. “You have the table in front of you? Three points at home and we are back in the mix.”
