STEPHEN KENNY SAID his side deserved to beat Armenia in their final Nations League game at the Aviva Stadium tonight, despite “a few minutes of madness” in which they blew a two-goal lead only to salvage a 3-2 win thanks to Robbie Brady’s injury-time penalty.
Ireland were cruising at 2-0 up only to suddenly find themselves back to 2-2 by conceding two long-range goals between the 71st and 73rd minutes.
Kenny said those goals came about because Ireland were too eager in chasing a third goal.
“I thought we played well overall”, said Kenny. “That’s the identity of the Irish team now: to dominate possession, although Armenia surrendered possession and dropped deep. We are certainly capable of stringing 20 and 30 passes together, we have no problem switching the play. We still want to improve the amount of chances we create.”
Asked whether he was concerned that the quick-fire concession of goals will mean his players will not be able to close out games in next year’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, Kenny replied, “It doesn’t worry me at all. I think today we were 2-0 up and went chasing the third goal when we didn’t need to.
“We had centre-backs overlapping, we were 2-0 up in game we needed to win. We lost a bit of structure: you must maintain your structure of your back three, and some protection or that as well when you are winning 2-0. We weren’t losing 2-0. We went chasing a third goal and got punished, and we came back and got the winner. Overall it was a really good performance with a few minutes of madness, and it is something we can learn from in terms of taking responsibility of not being exposed when you are winning like that.”
Kenny said he is unworried by the creativity in his side, but said they must improve defensively.
“We have to get better at keeping clean sheets, it’s not the creativity that concerns me. To be successful that is an important dynamic in the team, we have to improve.”
Elsewhere, Armenia manager Joaquin Caparros cried foul post-game, claiming Ireland should not have been awarded a corner in the build-up to the handball from which they earned a penalty.
Caparros also wondered why Armenia have been on the wrong end of decisions in Dublin: their goalkeeper – now the goalkeeper coach – was wrongly sent off in a decisive Euro 2012 qualifier in Dublin back in 2011.
“Maybe it is a coincidence”, he said, “but when it happens twice you have to think about it.”
The Armenian press officer said they have not yet decided whether to lodge a complaint with Uefa.