Republic 0f Ireland 1
Lithuania 0
THE SIEGE, ENDED by Troy.
Parrott shucked off his side’s early torpor to ensure Ireland eventually beat lowly Lithuania, and trust Stephen Kenny and his team to make it just about as interesting as it could have been. A lethargic first-half gave way to a second-half in which Ireland slowly went through the gears, albeit it looked like they had clicked through them too slowly until Parrott’s prodigious intervention.
In the 96th minute, already beyond the five minutes tacked on for Lithuanian time-wasting, Parrott collected a second ball 25 yards from goal, controlled, and smashed a stunning volley into the bottom corner.
It was the phenomenal winning over the frustrating. To that point Ireland had four goals (correctly) ruled out for offside and it looked like they would be made pay for their sluggish first half.
ABSOLUTE SCENES 🤯
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 29, 2022
Troy Parrott wins it for the Republic of Ireland in the 97th minute! 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/FhWXuRQPfi
Not so, and the momentum rolls toward June.
Stephen Kenny made six changes from Saturday’s draw with Belgium, with first Irish starts for Will Keane and Nathan Collins and a return for Dara O’Shea. Kenny also gave the people of Cork a much-needed injection of confidence by picking five of their countyfolk in his starting XI, Alan Browne and Conor Hourihane earning starts alongside the retained Caoimhín Kelleher, John Egan, and Chiedozie Ogbene.
Ogbene thought he had his fourth goal in seven games in the opening minutes when he turned home Ryan Manning’s low cross, but his celebrations were thwarted by the linesman’s flag. It was a sight the crowd got used to.
Ireland’s games against Europe’s fodder have gone well when they’ve scored early – 4-0 at home to Qatar, 3-0 away to Azerbaijan – and poorly when they haven’t. (See the home games with Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.) The first-half of this game followed the latter, dreary script.
After their bright start, Ireland were dragged down to their opponent’s level, for Lithuania defended with a back five and showed zero interest in attacking: their goalkeeper larruped all of his goal kicks long and spent aeons lining each of them. Kelleher played in Alissonesque tights but he could have played in jeans.
Ireland didn’t maintain their early spark and grew sloppy, perhaps best summed up when Matt Doherty conceded a corner in trying to prevent a throw-in from a bad cross-field pass. Unlike last Saturday, this time there was no opposition-coach-TV-close-up to lift the mood, given that Lithuania’s assistant manager Gediminas Sugzda has done nothing to injure the nation.
What little life in Ireland’s first-half performance was provided by Hourihane: he ended a long, desultory stint of sideways passing by pinging a lovely pass behind the Lithuanian right-back for Manning, whose low cross was slightly too far behind Ogbene. Kenny spoke previously of having Hourihane assume positions for ‘De Bruyne crosses’ – in the ‘half-spaces’, as Jurgen Klopp has taught us – and his slung, first-time deliveries were among Ireland’s more dangerous: Keane, who struggled on his big night, flicked one over the crossbar.
Those types of deliveries yielded goals in last summer’s victory against Andorra, the only side Kenny has thus far faced that’s ranked lower than Lithuania. That fixture was also mildly notable for being the only game in the last 12 months in which Kenny picked a back four rather than a back three, and given Lithuania’s near-comic indifference to attack, an extra centre-back felt needless.
Nonetheless, Kenny changed neither system nor personnel at the break. Ireland were instead lifted by our old friend, grievance. Matt Doherty’s pull-back from the right wing skipped beautifully across the box for Hourihane, whose first-time shot bounced beneath Dziugas Bartkus. But the celebrations were cut short once more, as Callum Robinson was standing in an offside position, obstructing the goalkeeper’s view. It was a legitimate decision, though riled the crowd nonetheless. Kenny stood aghast, hands on head.
Moments later Doherty took matters into his own hands, weaving into the box to beat five players before seeing his shot blocked by the splayed Bartkus.
Kenny then changed his players but not his set-up: James McClean came on for Dara O’Shea but Ryan Manning slotted to left centre-back, while Keane’s underwhelming night ended when he was swapped for Troy Parrott. Lithuania, meanwhile, had a rare sight of goal: Utkus’ shot hit Collins and looped past Kelleher’s left-hand post.
Ireland were then further hindered by a clown wearing an Irish rugby jersey, who picked the moment of an Irish attack to sprint onto the pitch and toward Kelleher for a selfie.
More frustration was to follow as Ireland made it a hat-trick of disallowed goals: McClean flagged for offside as he squared the ball for Ogbene to tap home. Ogbene screamed into the night sky in frustration.
Bartkus then veered between the farcical and the fantastic in injury time: he fumbled a handy cross and then grabbed it before it just crossed the line, after which he tried to save face by pretending he was injured. Moments later he flew through the air to brilliantly deny Parrott, whose volley was heading for the top corner.
Remarkably, there was time for a fourth disallowed goal: this time Scott Hogan volleying into the bottom corner having been flagged moments earlier, but Parrott’s moment of majesty ensured there was to no enduring frustration.
If you’re going to struggle to beat the 137th-ranked side in the world…that’s quite a good way of doing it.
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhin Kelleher; Nathan Collins, John Egan (captain), Dara O’Shea (James McClean, 62′); Matt Doherty; Conor Hourihane, Alan Browne (Jeff Hendrick, 82′); Ryan Manning; Callum Robinson (Scott Hogan, 76′), Chiedozie Ogbene (Jason Knight, 82′); Will Keane (Troy Parrott, 62′)
Lithuania: Dziugas Bartkus; Egidijus Vaitkunas, Edegaras Utkus, Benas Satkus, Rolandas Baravyks; Justas Lascikas (Pijus Sirvys, 82′), Linas Klimavicius, Vykintas Slivka, Titas Milasius (Donats Kazlauskas, HT); Fedor Cernych (captain) (Gratas Sirgedas, 86′), Augustinas Klimavicius (Ignas Kruzikas, 60′)
Referee: Jonathan Lardot (Belgium)
Attendance: 30,686