Republic of Ireland 1 Armenia 0
Ireland’s track record in these under-21 qualifying tournaments is a pretty miserable one but expectations are higher this time as Stephen Kenny has inherited what looks to be an exceptionally talented group. The manager lost Nathan Collins and Michael Obafemi to injury in the run up to this game but most of the stand out talents available to him were on show at Tallaght stadium where Jayson Molumby, Troy Parrot and, in particular, Aaron Connolly caught the eye in a game that the Irish dominated throughout and should have won by more.
Parrot got the goal just over a half an hour into an opening half in which the passing play of the home team presented a start contrast with the efforts of the senior side on Thursday evening. Mick McCarthy, of course, who was here to watch it, might reasonably point out that his players were given a little more to contend with by the Swiss.
Still, he must have been impressed by some of the individual performances.
Molumby, a 20-year-old midfielder from Cappoquin in Waterford, has recently gone on loan from Brighton to Millwall where he made his Championship debut a couple of weeks ago. He produced a commanding performance here, strong and quick, always looking for an opening on the edge of the area and with a good instinct when it came to whether to keep things simple or be that little bit more adventurous.
But he was arguably eclipsed over the course of the night by his Brighton club mate Connolly who made his Premier League debut last weekend when he came on against Manchester City. On the strength of this, you could see why Graham Potter would want to keep the young Galwayman about the place.
His pace, agility and close control as he embarked on one run after another down the left wing was the major source of excitement for the crowd of 3,658 and Armenian right back Erjanik Ghubasaryan will not remember his encounter with the Irishman too fondly although he fared better in the second half when he started to receive a bit more of a dig out from team mates.
In terms of chances created, Ireland ran completely away with things, but their finishing could certainly have been better and Connolly was actually one of several guilty parties on that front with the 19 year-old twice producing poor efforts on goal after cutting inside onto his right foot.
Adam Idah might have made more of the chances that came his way and Parrott clearly should have scored when the striker nudged the ball into space in front of him after an unforced defensive howler had gifted the home side possession on the edge of the Armenian area.
The Spurs player hit the post, though, when he had a lot of goal to aim for. It was disappointing by the standard he had himself set with his first half finish after Connolly had done quite brilliantly to set him up.
That goal remained the difference between the teams and having looked almost bound to win by a comfortable margin, Ireland’s inability to put their opponents away inevitably allowed Armenia to persist in the believe that there might be a goal and point to be grabbed.
Kenny’s back four defended well enough but Caoimhin Kelleher still had a couple of decent stops to make over the course of the night and the manager must have been frustrated that outcome was still even slightly in doubt right up until the final whistle. It is, though, a second win from two as the squad heads to Sweden over the weekend.
Republic of Ireland: Kelleher (Liverpool); O'Connor (Celtic), O'Shea (West Brom), Masterson (QPR), Leahy (Bohemians); Molumby (Brighton), Coventry (West Ham); Kilkenny (Bournemouth), Parrott (Tottenham), Connolly (Brighton); Idah (Norwich).
Substitutions: Mandroiu (Bohemians) for Idah and Elbouzedi (Waterford) for Elbouzedi (66 mins), Afolabi (Celtic) for Parrott (82 mins), Knight (Derby County) for Connolly (88 mins).
Armenia: Aslanyan; Ghubasaryan, Khachumyan, Nazaryan, Grigoryan; Mkrtchyan, Nadiryan; Melkonyan, Bichakhchyan, Nahapetyan; Kurbashyan.
Substitutions: Movsesyan for Kurbashyan (69 mins), Khamoyam for Bichakhchyan (76 mins), Tsaturyan for Nahapetyan and Vardanyan for Nadiryan (both 82 mins).
Referee: F Zammit (Malta).
