Ireland eventually find a way past stubborn Lithuania
Troy Parrott produced his third goal for Ireland with the last kick of 97 frustrating minutes, eventually torpedoing the yellow submarine of Lithuania.
After visits to the Aviva in the last games of Cristiano Ronaldo and the world’s top team in Belgium, both draws, Ireland laboured against the side ranked 137 in the world until the 20-year-old struck a piledriver from 30 yards.
James McClean and Conor Hourihane combined on the left to send in a cross that fell to Parrott, who roamed inside before unleashing his shot past Džiugas Bartkus.
The veteran goalkeeper, only recalled to the squad for this window, had single-handily kept Ireland at bay in the friendly but they were eventually sunk with the latest late goal of the Stephen Kenny era.
If Saturday’s improvised result was, as John Egan jested, Cork 2 Belgium 2, then Kenny was offering the Rebels a shot at victory by selecting five Leesiders in his starting team.
A total of six changes were employed, with Conor Hourihane and Alan Browne - whose late header nicked a 2-2 draw against Belgium on Saturday – stepping up from the bench to harness to form the midfield bedrock.
There were first starts for Nathan Collins and Will Keane, while Dara O’Shea reappeared for the first time since a promising start to his Ireland career was stalled last September when sustaining a broken ankle against Portugal.
Time is ticking against Kenny’s left wing-backs of choice for the past year, Enda Stevens and McClean, so it was long overdue for an heir to be afforded game-time.
Ryan Manning’s stellar season for Swansea City placed him ahead of Liam Scales in the queue and the 25-year-old came into the XI for the first time since debuting against Bulgaria all of 15 months ago.
Lithuania arrived with a spring in their step after beating San Marino 2-1 on Saturday – only their second victory in the last 14 – but also without two of their better players.
Paulius Golubickas and one of their scorers against the fellow minnows, Linas Mėgelaitis, didn’t make the trip and they handed a second cap to Augustus Kliinavicius, their sole striker.
He formed part of a diverse selection, drawn from their domestic league, Israel, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Belgium. A player apiece from the second tiers of the German and Polish leagues completed their side.
It was hardly a petrifying prospect for Ireland to face and when, within 15 seconds, their first passage from kick-off drifted out of play, a long night for the visitors seemed inevitable.
Even on the rare occasion that Caoimhín Kelleher had to be alert to danger from outside of the box, captain Fedor Cernych cannoned his shot off the back of teammate Kliinavicius. Maybe it was dizziness caused by venturing out of their own half.
As is the way with a country of such lowly seeding, Lithuania came to contain, Valdas Ivanauskas working to a predictable game-plan fronted by their yellow wall.
The onus was on Ireland to perforate their resistance and they thought they’d done so after just eight minutes.
Manning, who’d speared a dipping volley wide from a half-cleared corner early on, latched onto a slide-rule pass from Hourihane on the left and lifted his head.
Awaiting on the box was the lively Ogbene who first-time diverted the cross beyond Džiugas Bartkus but he’d strayed just offside.
That would have settled Ireland right down, for they were nervous and disjointed in possession, relying mainly on the seven corners they forced in the opening half.
In the absence of target-man Shane Duffy in the box from set-piece, John Egan assumed the most responsibility, a ploy that was soon counteracted by double-marking.
Better execution in the delivery by Hourihane would have helped and his left foot was most threatening from the “De Bruyne” cross Kenny highlighted as critical in the recent tactical tutorial he delivered to a surprised press pack.
He got the opportunity of replicating the Belgian maestro nine minutes before the break by coming short for a corner and whipping in a ball for Keane to connect with. The Wigan man, with 20 goals at club level, completely misjudged the flight of the ball and, with his back to goal, could only nod over from eight yards.
It was understandable to see Kenny complaining at the shortage of injury time at the end of the first half, for the limited guests were content to slow the contest down at every opportunity.
Five minutes into the second half and Browne almost fashioned a duplicate of his bullet header from Saturday. Matt Doherty furrowed with the run and cross but at the same location he claimed glory four days ago, the Corkman was denied by his marker’s block in the air.
Ireland then had their second goal disallowed on 55 minutes – again with Doherty supplying the assist.
His right-wing cross fell perfectly for Hourihane to strike and the shot evaded Bartkus, his protests at having both Keane and Callum Robinson in offside positions were validated by referee Bram Van Driessche overruling his assistant.
Doherty was on a mission at this stage, availing of the space afforded on the right side. From one of his mazy runs, he slipped past defenders, only to be denied by the legs of Bartkus.
It was one-way traffic for Ireland, with a third goal disallowed 17 minutes from the end. McClean, on for O’Shea just past the hour, squared for Ogbene to tuck home but he had mistimed his run from fellow substitute Troy Parrott’s pass.
Bartkus stooped low to save Egan’s header late on and he finger-tipped Parrott’s rising shot over the crossbar but was unable to keep out the Tottenham man’s last-gasp rasping shot.
C Kelleher; N Collins, J Egan, D O’Shea (J McClean 63); M Doherty, A Browne (J Hendrick 82), C Hourihane, R Manning; C Ogbene (J Knight 82), C Robinson (S Hogan 77); W Keane (T Parrott 63).
D Bartkus; R Baravykas, L Kliinavicius, B Satkus, E Vaitkunas; J Lasickas (P Sirvys 82), E Utkus, V Slivka; T Milasius (D Kazlauskas 46); F Cernych (G Sirgedas 87), A Kliinavicius (I Kruzikas 60).
Bram Van Driessche (BEL)
30,836.
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