Ireland v Greece comment: This was better, in parts, but the hits keep on coming
SAME OLD, SAME OLD: An Ireland fan looks dejected during the game. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
It was ten-past eight. Almost 20 minutes played in Dublin. That point in the evening when the armchair punter has the tea drank and the biscuit reduced to whatever crumbs escaped down the jumper and the side of the couch.
This is around the point where the Boys In Green might have started to lose their audience in recent years, the evidence before them pointing to another evening of disappointment and self-recrimination. And not even an Eamo or a Gilesey to spark something during the break.
The sort of point where some would surrender to Fair City to see how Victor and Babs and Paul and Anto might be getting on. Or give in to the even greater guilt that, last night, would have meant checking in on how England were faring against the Finns.
Then something caught the eye.
How many passes was that they had put together? Was that Jayson Molumby spraying a beauty long and wide to Chiedozie Ogbene? And, oh god, if only that Greek defender hadn’t covered Alan Browne’s effort from the cutback.
Yeah, this might be worth a watch after all.
The opening quarter had been … how can we put this … dull but interesting? The four-at-the-back had thousands of fans screaming ‘THANK YOU, FINALLY!’ and Ireland did look more contained against an admittedly slow-to-start Greek team.
Ireland had resorted to long throws and long free kicks into the box but they’d tried to play a bit too. None of it had amounted to much but, as the first-half went on, it became clear that Ogbene was ‘on it’ and Will Smallbone’s more advanced plot was paying off.
The Southampton midfielder played three or four lovely, short diagonal balls in around the final third that we just haven’t been used to seeing. Sammie Szmodics, played up front, was showing. On one occasion, even turning with the ball.
The Greeks still had the two best chances of the opening 40 minutes, with a header just clearing Coaimhin Kelleher’s bar from a corner and the Liverpool player turning a free-kick around his post, but Ireland were raising their own low bar by degrees.
Seeing Heimir Halgrímisson give an impromptu coaching clinic to some of the players during one break in play was significant in itself after the noise about his ‘hands-off’ start to the new job – and then the Icelandic era seemed to erupt into life.
Ogbene’s crisp half-volley being ruled out for offside felt particularly cruel. Not just for the Ipswich Town man's efforts up to that point, but for the release it briefly felt like in a stadium desperate for this sort of smouldering promise to catch fire.
Another intricate move before half-time ended with Alan Browne ballooning his finish over the bar but Ireland had finished the half and shown clear signs of progress after the wake-up call that had been the 2-0 loss to England on Saturday.
Moving on isn’t always easy though.
The Stephen Kenny chapter will be remembered for lots of different reasons – the grand and unrealised footballing vision and culture wars it spawned, the dreadful run of results, the inability to score enough goals.
Here was another relic of the recent past, Fotis Ionnidis being allowed the freedom of Dublin to settle himself outside the Irish area and float a left-footer into the top corner for a 1-0 lead. No soap opera would dare use that plot line so often, but here we were again.
Halgrímsson singled out confidence, or the lack of it, as the main issue with his new team after the English loss. On both sides of the ball. They showed more flashes of design and intent after going behind not much more than that.
Replacing Molumby with Evan Ferguson was an obvious gambit given the need to start scoring goals and earning points, but it left them with a devalued insurance policy further back and Greece continued to push for more profit.
They got it too.
That’s three straight defeats to the Greeks now. A second 2-0 this week. A third loss in four games. One win in 12 against nations not named Gibraltar. Zero points in two Nations League Group B ties.
This was better, in parts, but the hits keep on coming.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
