Caoimhín Kelleher (Brentford)
He had one weak Armenian effort to deal with in the first half and watched as Spertsyan drilled another wide soon after. But in general it was an uneventful night for Kelleher, which is something he was due after his efforts in Lisbon. Rating: 7
Séamus Coleman (Everton)
Coleman literally put his face where others wouldn’t put their foot after only two minutes and received a bloodied nose for his bravery after a kick in the face. He picked up a yellow for dunting the Armenian goalkeeper early in the second half. Tried to raise the tempo constantly. Rating: 7
Jake O’Brien (Everton)
O’Brien had an early header that he couldn’t direct goalwards. He was part of a back five for most of the night and carried out that role with little fuss. Got forward to whisk in a cross in the second half. Disciplined without being hugely impactful. Rating: 6
Nathan Collins (Brentford)
Was at the heart of a back five and made some decent defensive clearances. He got up well to plant a header goalwards early in the second half only for Avagyan to push the ball off the post. Showed good leadership in the closing stages. Rating: 7
RM Block
Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town)
O’Shea’s distribution was poor – he overhit three passes in the first half alone, two of which went out for throws to the visitors. Still, he almost opened the scoring with a nice glancing header in the second half only for Avagyan to produce a world-class save. Rating: 6
Ryan Manning (Southampton)
The Galway man got through a huge amount of work down the left flank for Ireland and was busy haring up and down the wing. He fizzed a shot wide from a half-chance midway through the first half and was a lively throughout. Rating: 7
Festy Ebosele (Istanbul Başakşehir)
Ebosele caused Armenia problems with his strength and direct running, though his positioning often saw him drift in from the right wing to a more central position. He carried more of a threat when out wide and running at defenders. Rating: 7
Jayson Molumby (West Brom)
The Waterford man worked his socks off but picked up a yellow card in the second half and will miss the home match against Portugal. Tried to get himself in useful positions all night and had a couple of half-chances in the second half. Rating: 6
Will Smallbone (Millwall)
Smallbone was charged with the task of being one of Ireland’s chief set-ball takers and his deliveries in the main were decent. He wasn’t as influential in open play as Ireland would have liked around the middle third, though Smallbone did send in the cross for Ferguson’s goal. Rating: 6
Finn Azaz (Southampton)
Azaz started the game brightly and tried to be creative throughout. He was instrumental in one of the key moments of the contest – when Armenian captain Tigran Barseghyan was sent off for headbutting the Southampton man. Threaded a wonderful ball through for a Ferguson chance soon after. Rating: 7
Evan Ferguson (AS Roma)
For large chunks of the evening, it was another tough slog for Ferguson but in the space of two minutes he was on the end of two goalscoring chances. He hit his first effort at Avagyan but moments later the Roma striker made no mistake by heading Smallbone’s cross to the back of the net. Utter relief. Rating: 7
Manager: Heimir Hallgrímsson
Opted to start with a back five and didn’t make any personnel changes until the 64th minute. It wasn’t a pretty win by any means, and a 1-0 result was the least Hallgrímsson needed here. But he was helped massively in that by Barseghyan’s red card. Rating: 6
Substitutions
Troy Parrott and Chiedozie Ogbene tried to add energy to Ireland’s game when introduced. Adam Idah almost goaled soon after coming on but not for the first time all night the visiting goalkeeper made a stunning save. Idah did have the ball in the net late but was adjudged to be offside. Rating: 6
