By Irishexaminer.com,John Fallon
Copyright irishexaminer
It will take the Armenians repeating this gutsy display against Hungary, plus Ireland picking up points off the Magyars and top seeds Portugal, for a lifeline to be retrieved in this blitz of a six-game qualification sprint.
Heimir Hallgrímsson spoke of the hosts being a wounded animal after their 5-0 mauling by Portugal and they capitalised on Ireland’s lack of tempo and urgency. Temperatures remained at 27 degrees in the night air but that cannot excuse the lethargy they got away with in Saturday’s opener against Hungary.
Eduard Spertsyan was the match-winner in the last meeting here three years ago and he converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time to hit the front.
Ireland were caught square for the second by Grant-Leon Ranos six minutes after the restart and while Evan Ferguson reduced the arrears, there would be no sequel to Saturday’s late leveller against Hungary.
Armenia were entitled to celebrate wildly at the end, a home scalp taken to complement their 4-2 defeat of Wales 15 months ago. They’ve sunk Ireland to the foot of the table, a third of the way into the campaign.
Two changes were made from Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Hungary, one enforced by an injury to Sammie Szmodics.
His spot on the wing went to Chiedozie Ogbene, while Matt Doherty was sacrificed to facilitate the inclusion of Jack Taylor. That change involved Ryan Manning being redeployed to left-back in the manager’s flat back four formation.
Hallgrímsson had pleaded for his players to avoid the slow starts that contributed to early concessions against Bulgaria and Hungary this year and they twice came close to bucking the trend inside three minutes.
Just 25 seconds were clocked when a move from kick-off led to Finn Azaz drilling a low shot from the edge of the box.
That was saved by Ognjen Čančarević, a goalkeeper who turns 36 and stood in for Henri Avagyan following his injury in Saturday’s pasting.
His last appearance in Georgia saw him pick the ball out of the net six times but after a shaky start here he held firm under pressure.
He was all at sea when scampering from his goal on three minutes to challenge Ferguson. Once the striker won the foot race, he pirouetted and lobbed the stranded keeper who was relieved to see Eric Piloyan nod the ball off the goal-line.
A promising start failed to yield an opener. Other chances fell to Taylor and Nathan Collins later in the half, the first on the half hour when the Ipswich Town midfielder raided into the box and was denied by the Noah custodian at the near post. Collins couldn’t angle his header from Jake O’Brien’s cross inside the post.
Still, Armenia gradually grew into the game to take a foothold. The initial warning was fired on 18 minutes by Lucas Zelarayán swirling a 20-yard shot that Caoimhín Kelleher parried before gathering.
Their purple patch arrived inside the final 10 minutes of the half. Dara O’Shea’s slip at his endline allowed Tigran Barseghyan to square for Grant-Leon Ranos. Although his first shot was blocked by O’Brien, his rising effort from the rebound clattered off the crossbar.
With Ireland reeling and the decibel levels rising within the crowd, the hosts snatched the lead right on half-time through a penalty.
Zelarayán was cute enough to nip ahead of Collins from a cross to tumble to the turf, convincing Goga Kikacheishvili to award a spot-kick.
His decision was endorsed by a VAR check, enabling Spertsyan to beat Kelleher despite the Corkman eventually diving the right way to the left.
Adam Idah and Kasey McAteer were unleashed for the second half but it didn’t have the desired effect as Ireland were soon dissected to concede a second.
Spertsyan was left alone in a central area to roll the ball behind O’Brien on the left. Nayair Tiknizyan was the beneficiary, ghosting in behind to square for Ranos to beat Collins and smash the ball high into the net.
Two goals behind, a rescue remedy was imperative and it came through Ferguson’s seventh international goal six minutes later.
His second-half strike partner Idah made the running, threading a pass through to the centre that the AS Roma forward executed with a sweet right-footed curler into the far corner.
There was no late siege by Ireland, with Manning the sole Irish who came near to equalising. His 75th minute shot on the turn from a botched Armenia clearance tested Čančarević but the Serbian-born stopper recovered after initially parrying the strike.
Instead, it was Armenia who enjoyed the better goalscoring openings. Substitute Vahan Bichakhchyan stung the gloves of Kelleher before Tiknizyan was foiled only by Kelleher when sent clear on his own.
Another sub, Artur Serobyan, thought he’d snaffled a third with two minutes left but despite bending his shot beyond Kelleher, another VAR checked confirmed offside in the build-up.
ARMENIA: O Čančarević; K Hovhannisyan, E Piloyan, G Arutyunyan, S Muradyan, N Tiknizyan; U Iwu, L Zelarayán, E Spertsyan, T Barseghyan, GL Ranos.
IRELAND: C Kelleher; J O’Brien, N Collins, D O’Shea, R Manning (L Scales 82); J Knight, J Cullen (K Phillips 70); C Ogbene (K McAteer 46), J Taylor (A Idah 46), F Azaz (M Johnston 70); E Ferguson.
Referee: Goga Kikacheishvili (GEO).
Attendance: 13144.
