THE REPUBLIC of Ireland are maybe inching towards the European championships in Poland and the Ukraine next summer but first comes the hyper-drama of the play-offs. Richard Dunne’s 59th-minute goal was enough to give them a 2-1 win over the silky visitors from Armenia, whose lightning ascent from nowhere was the surprise story of this Group B.
Russia, as expected, topped the group with a procession of goals against Andorra and so Ireland are back in a familiar place. The play-offs have a habit of torturing Irish hopes – shades of Thierry Henri moved through Lansdowne last night after a controversial handball visited Armenia – but being there beats the alternative.
The various permutations across Europe indicated last night that Ireland go into tomorrow’s draw in Krakow as top seeds, with Portugal, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Two matches against Turkey, Bosnia, Montenegro or Estonia await.
The Trapattoni era is once again poised on the edge of something wonderful. Or awaiting another night of gut-wrenching disappointment. But as he appraised the Irish situation, the Italian was quick to place last night’s performance – and the moral pressure on the team – in context.
“The team know what you, the Irish people, want. The sport is important and the rugby (team) lost against Wales. So football would give the morale a lift. The players know this! They feel this situation and they have a weight on their shoulders. You have the responsibility of keeping a nation’s hopes up and it is a big responsibility.
“We are a team that is not naïve and we understand who we are. It is not like 15 years ago when all the Irish players are playing with their clubs every week. We are a different team and I am happy for our team.”
So much hinged on that 26th-minute incident which ended with Armenia’s goalkeeper leaving the field in dismay. Simon Cox, who rewarded Trapattoni’s faith in him with a boisterous and positive 90 minutes, came bundling on to a long ball after controlling it on the run. His shot was met by Roman Berezovsky, who had abandoned his box to try and cancel out the danger. The immediate Lansdowne roar made it seem as if 40,000 people had just seen a certain hand ball.
Eduardo Gonzalez, the referee, agreed and the Armenian looked stunned at the red card. Closer scrutiny suggested he had blocked Cox’s shot fairly; if anything, the ball glanced of the Irish man’s arm as he sought to control it. Armenia’s luck worsened when Valeri Aleksanyan turned Damian Duff’s acute cross into his own net after Kevin Doyle missed his attempt at a delicate flick. Armenia learned what many of Republic of Ireland teams discovered during heartbreaking road trips in decades past. When you are on the way up, the breaks do not come easy.
But afterwards, Trapattoni looked perplexed at the notion that the Irish team had been lucky. “They play well. But I can accept that they played well but I don’t remember Shay Given being in a difficult situation. We were lucky in Russia because we cleared a goal off the line but I don’t remember Shay having that particular difficulty tonight.”
Everything the Italian had hoped for was materialising, not least the bustling and confident display of Cox up front. With Robbie Keane’s week confined to that rousing Malahide karaoke, it was vital the West Bromwich man was up to the occasion and from the beginning, he was all business, flicking a neat ball for a Doyle chance after just 12 minutes.
Elsewhere, Duff slowly began to flicker with something of the familiar impudence and Dunne was, as ever, hugely stabilising and steady in the heart of the Irish defence. The big man’s facility for reading the game seems to have become more clairvoyant with each game in this campaign and it was fitting that gargantuan performances for Ireland were rewarded with what turned out to be the winning goal.
But for long periods, the Lansdowne roar was absent. Ireland’s tendency to live on the edge continued here and over a nerve-wracking last half hour, the Armenians began to realise the home team were not going to run away with the match.
Nothing spoke of the extent of Armenia’s transformation over the course of this campaign than the stubbornness allied to easy skill with which they played through the second half. Henrikh Mkhitaryan sure knows how to run a football show and even with 10 men, they continued to thread swift, neat passes through the green shirts.
Shay Given’s run of eight clean sheets ended with Mkhitaryan’s 62nd-minute goal, which silenced the songs that had greeted Dunne’s strike just three minutes earlier. The home crowd settled in for the usual feast of frights and last-gasp heroics. The dismissal of Doyle – a stray elbow turning his earlier yellow card into a red on 80 minutes – increased the anxiety.
And Armenia kept pressing but the irrepressible run of goals that brought them rocketing back into contention never quite flowed as Ireland held on.
So once again, we are knocking on the door of a European Championships. It wasn’t the most glittering of performances but on a night when Armenia played with no fear and suffered from cursed luck, they did what they had to do.
Almost two years after that night of tears in Paris, Ireland have clawed their way back into contention. All eyes on Poland tomorrow and then further adventures lie in store.
