Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson says the prime objective of Tuesday night was to emerge from the Aviva still with a live chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
Ireland’s 1-0 win over 10-man Armenia is unlikely to feature in any glorious montage of famous victories but it was enough to take this qualification campaign down to the last window – at home to Portugal and away to Hungary.
But Hungary’s 2-2 draw with Portugal has made Ireland’s task that bit harder. If Ireland lose to Portugal next month and Hungary beat Armenia, then our World Cup aspirations would be over before the trip to Budapest.
“We knew we’d need to go to Hungary and win. Now we might need a point against Portugal or need a favour from Armenia in Yerevan. There is a spirit in Armenia that is noticeable. They matched Hungary in Budapest,” said Hallgrímsson on Tuesday night.
RM Block
“You Irish always like to go down to the wire. Okay, let’s do that. The next window is a new dawn. We just needed three points [tonight] to be alive, to have a chance. It was always going to be a tough match. Players will play at a higher quality next time.
“We can match Hungary. We’ve shown that. Portugal away, tough game, incredible Portuguese crowd, and we played well against them. With the Irish crowd we can get something from that game. The power of the media means it is your decision to see it half-full or half-empty.”
Hallgrímsson feels anxiousness was a significant contributing factor in Tuesday night’s display against Armenia.
“Nerves, because it was a must-win game. You sometimes become passive when you have nerves,” he added.
“The red card released those nerves. We won ball higher up the pitch and put pressure on them. We showed bravery in the second half.”
“We said before this camp that we would take a scrappy 1-0 win. So, we cannot be unhappy. We won now, we didn’t concede early, we kept a clean sheet so we’ll take the positives and move on.
“We got the win. It was not beautiful and we should have got more goals but I’ll take it all day.”
Nathan Collins said there was no panic in the Ireland dressingroom at half-time on Tuesday night despite their World Cup qualification hopes hanging by a thread against Armenia.
There had been noticeable boos emanating from sections of the ground at the half-time whistle but Collins says the players were confident that by sticking to their game plan they’d find a way to break down the visitors.
“I thought defensively we were very good. I think they had one chance in the first half on the counter-attack but other than that I thought we were in control of it,” said the Ireland captain.
“Our defensive block worked well. We probably wanted to press a bit higher. (At half-time) I think we knew we could do more, I think we were probably a little bit too deep and that was probably a rollover of Portugal, maybe. We wanted to press higher. I thought we did that at the start of the second half.
“I understand the fans want us to be front foot and on it all the time but sometimes the best thing is just to be solid. I thought we’d done that in the first half.”
But Collins praised the combative approach of Séamus Coleman – who bundled over Armenian goalkeeper Henri Avagyan with a late hit at the start of the second half, an incident that energised the home crowd.
“Séamus lit it up a bit. He got us going, he had a big tackle, it changes everything when the fans get behind you. They get riled up, it puts more pressure on them and maybe the emotions got the better of the Armenians and that can happen.
“Listen, it’s not really us that changes, it’s the fans that can change. Something little like Séamus doing it can change everything.”
It wasn’t pretty against Armenia but in terms of what Ireland needed, it was at least mission accomplished. However, Hungary’s draw with Portugal on Tuesday was the unexpected fly in the ointment.
Ireland almost certainly need to get something from the Dublin fixture against Portugal now. Should Hungary beat Armenia and Ireland lose to Portugal, then it’s curtains even before the team step on a plane to Budapest.
“When you bring Portugal to Aviva, I think the aim is to win the game no matter what,” added Collins.
“Hungary away, the last game of the campaign, anything can happen. But Portugal at home, it’s going to be an exciting game.
“I’m comfortable enough with big teams coming here. I think we can perform against them. I think the fans get excited for it, I think it’s a great challenge.
“When the fans are on it, it’s tough for any team. We’ve seen it before, we’ve seen how big teams come here and they struggle with it. Their support is immense. When they’re with us, you really feel like you can’t be beaten.”
Ryan Manning and Jayson Molumby will miss the game through suspension but Collins believes the set-up has sufficient depth to deal with such losses.
“I think we have a decent squad. We have players that can come in. We missed Josh Cullen tonight, so he comes back in. I think Jayson’s been unbelievable the last few games, he’s been unreal. Ryan, as well, defensively and going forward he’s very good. We will miss him, but we’ll have players to come in.”
