Tommy Martin: For a precisely engineered craft, why is Stephen Kenny's Ireland blindsided by asteroids?

What is missing? Is it simply experience, the nous to ride out the interstellar collisions that are a hazard of international football’s rarefied orbit?

EXPLOSIVE IMPACT: Eduard Spertsyan scores Armenia's second goal at the Aviva 

Not normally known for their sports punditry, NASA provided us with this week’s perfect metaphor for football management. For what could resemble the lot of the humble gaffer better than Dimorphos, the asteroid happily hurtling through the galaxy until the American space boffins smashed a ruddy great probe into it at a speed of 22,000 kilometres per hour?

Stephen Kenny would have felt the asteroid’s pain on Tuesday night when his team’s pleasant orbit around the Armenian defence was suddenly jolted off course. Until Artak Dashyan’s 71st-minute strike made deep impact, gravity seemed set to land the Republic of Ireland’s latest mission gently on international football’s Sea of Tranquility – survival in Nations League B.