Gavin Cooney

IF THE EARLY-WEEK mood among the Irish squad last month was confident bordering on bombastic, this week’s has been suitably chastened. 

The wretched 2-1 defeat in Armenia last month made a mockery of its optimistic prelude, in which Heimir Hallgrimsson spoke of his players’ confidence levels parlaying into their even looking physically taller, while coach Paddy McCarthy insisted the squad was on the cusp of something special. 

This week, the players haven’t been afforded the same opportunity to look forward to Saturday’s qualifier away to Portugal, and instead all have been invited to rake over the ashes of the Armenian defeat. 

Of those made available for interview this week, neither Troy Parrott nor Jayson Molumby are tainted by association. Parrott was injured, while Molumby was simply omitted. 

“As a fan, watching on the telly, I have the same opinion as everyone else”, said Parrott. “I think we could have played a lot better and ultimately got the win.” 

“It was hard to watch”, grimaced Molumby. “Really tough to watch.”

Molumby was subsequently asked for his view on what specifically went wrong in midfield, the area of the pitch in which Ireland were utterly overwhelmed in the second half. He largely demurred, saying he didn’t want to disrespect those involved by commenting on a game from which he is absent. He did, however, alight on an eternal Irish football truth. 

“I’ve been there as a player, when I’ve played games that you are expected to win or dominate, and you haven’t”, he said. “It is a tough place to be.”

Confidence levels are a constant talking point with this Irish squad – Hallgrimsson set the tone for this in his first month by saying the jersey weighed too heavily on the squad – and Molumby went on to illustrate why confidence is such an issue. 

And yet, somehow, the Armenia loss may have been rooted in an excess of confidence. 

Finn Azaz speaks with the media. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

Unlike the aforementioned, Finn Azaz was involved in that game, and he this week provided a thoughtful post-mortem. (He did, however, declined to answer our question as to whether Israel should be excluded from international sport, given Hallgrimsson last week said he believed they should be excluded, citing the Russian precedent. Azaz’ mother has Israeli citizenship.) 

“We all know we let people down, and let ourselves down”, said Azaz, stressing that the squad’s ambition is now to atone for it all against Portugal and at home to Armenia. 

“There’s an anger there, to put things right. We know it wasn’t good enough, but we feel we can make a statement to put it right.”

He went on to say that the players have to eliminate “lapses in concentration”, and that it was on the players to take responsibility. 

Azaz was later asked about Hallgrimsson’s comment last week that the Irish players underestimated the challenge of Armenia after their rousing comeback at home to Hungary, and his answer was quietly remarkable. 

“I think it goes further than that”, he said. “In terms of the build up, the wins against Bulgaria, the improved performances and results leading up to that game. . . maybe there was a lack of understanding of the challenge that we were coming up against away to Armenia, in terms of the occasion, in terms of the environment and in term of them as players. We weren’t at our levels. I don’t want to give excuses in terms of this and that but we have to look at ourselves maybe that is part of it.” 

That any Ireland squad – especially one which had actually lost on their previous trip to Yerevan – would underestimate the challenge of Armenia is extraordinary.

Hallgrimsson’s efforts to mine the March wins against Bulgaria and the second half performance against Hungary to rebuild confidence in fact seems to have had the effect of allowing the squad run away with themselves. Perhaps Hallgrimsson sensed all of this, as he used his media briefing after the Hungary game to warn us all that Armenia were not to be taken lightly. 

“I hope both you guys and my players will not think that way, because I know when you lose big, you come strong in the next one”, said Hallgrimsson last month. 

“It’s a game that we should take respect, we should respect them, we should respect Armenia. It’s just like Iceland when we go to Eurovision: we always think we have the best song, but we never go to the qualifying round.”

Hence Ireland went to Yerevan and came home with nul points. 

Azaz also spoke with conviction that the players’ hurt is motivating them to put things right this week, but regrettably there is currently little public trust in their ability to do so.