FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
GROUP F
Game Two
Armenia 2
Ireland 1
AN embarrassing but far from shocking defeat for the Irish men's soccer team took place on Tuesday evening in the Hanrapetakan Stadium in Yerevan.
Ireland hoped to build from their late comeback on Saturday evening after a two goal deficit looked to spell the end of their World Cup dreams when Hungary came to Dublin's fair city but Ireland were spared blushes on that occasion thanks to Evan Ferguson and Adam Idah's late header earned them a point.
Heimir Hallgrimsson spoke after Saturday nights game and made it very clear publicly of the importance that Tuesday's game held stating that it would "weigh even more importance now" but that looked further from the truth as Armenia cruised to a home victory.
Ireland did have the early chances in Yerevan when Evan Ferguson's early effort was cleared off the line to prevent an goal inside the opening ten minutes before Finn Azaz saw his effort well saved by Cancarevic in the Armenian goal.
The first half seemed a chore for the Irish travelling fans to witness as the boys in green created very little in the attacking third and just before the break were punished after Armenia were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Heimir Hallgrimmson has suffered Ireland's worst ever start to World Cup Qualifiying
Eduard Spertsyan stepped up and slotted his effort low and beyond Kelleher in the Irish net as the European minnows and world number 105 took the lead.
The early deficit was not a shock to the system for Hallgrimsson's men, as the Ireland boss has seen his side concede first in nine of the ten games in charge and Tuesday was no different as the half-time whistle went.
Half-time gave a chance to regroup which Ireland were desperate for. The only bright spot for Ireland over first half was when Jack Taylor came close to scoring prior to Armenia's opener.
Ferguson had chased a Josh Cullen long ball and held it up well before Taylor burst through, was almost upended by Piloyan, and then had his shot from six-yards saved.
The pairing of Taylor and Ogbene saw their number raised at the break as both were hooked after struggling to make an impact early on. Adam Idah and Kasey McAteer were introduced with Hallgrimsson praying that the former could repeat Saturday's heroics.
Ireland's players apologised to the travelling fans after an embarrassing result
The Stephen Kenny era returned as Ireland conceded an early goal after Spertsyan played a lovely pass behind O’Brien for Barseghyan to run down the left and fire a low cross perfectly to Ranos for a tap-in which doubled the home side's lead.
Evan Ferguson struck his second in as many games as the Roma striker seemed to have found his goal scoring touch in what was one of a few positives for Ireland after the break.
But Ireland were unable to capture the dominance of Saturday's game and found themselves on the back foot before long again.
Zelarayan looked set to seal the victory but Caoimhin Kelleher made two stops in as many minutes as the Irish defence parted like the Red Sea upon almost every attack as they struggled to get near the level of a side placed 45 places below them in the FIFA rankings.
Ryan Manning would strike Ireland's only other attempt worth writing home about as the full-back hit an effort which was an easy stop for the Armenian shot-stopper.
Substitute Artur Serobyan looked to have made it 3-1 as he showed poise in and control when he slotted past Kelleher but after a lengthy VAR check the goal was disallowed for an offside saving face for Ireland after an embarrassing evening in Europe's far-east.
Ireland will be back in action next month when they travel to the Algarve to face top-seed Portugal before a reverse fixture against Armenia in Dublin with hopes hanging by a thread – if not completely dead.
