A seismic shift for an Ireland team that had become all too familiar with defeat

A second victory over Bulgaria marked a fourth win from sixth games, three of them eked out from losing positions.

Ireland's Evan Ferguson and Nathan Collins celebrate the final whistle. Pic: James Crombie/Inpho

Three days on from Plovdiv and the narrative had changed. There was no debate as to the respective merits of staying in League B or dropping down to League C in the hours before kick-off at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday evening.

The 2-1 win in Eastern Europe on Thursday had rendered all that chin-scratching moot. 

For the Republic of Ireland to stumble into the third tier of the Nations League now, having put themselves in such a position in the first leg, would have been a sickener.

This was the first home game of the year for the men’s national team. Teams that have lost with Ireland’s regularity shouldn’t be second-guessing the merits of any wins in the first place. Start as you mean to go on, and all that. Just do it.

If Stephen Kenny did the State some service then it was the manner in which he flooded the side with youth on taking over from Mick McCarthy. 

Was it too much too soon? It was, but Kenny predicted himself that maybe he wouldn’t be the one to reap the dividends.

You look at the spine of the team now and any training wheels should be gathering dust in the shed. Caoimhin Kelleher is beyond the 20-cap mark. Dara O’Shea and Nathan Collins bring over 50 between them. Josh Cullen and Jason Knight are well north of 70.

Even Troy Parrot is touching 30.

FAI president Paul Cooke called this a “very young and exciting” senior squad in his programme notes. 

“There is no denying it, 2025 is a huge year for the MNT and an exciting challenge for Heimir, his staff and players,” said CEO David Courell.

Courell also drew attention to the ongoing debate about League of Ireland academies and the need to get them off the ground with the support of the public purse through a government that hasn’t exactly promised to plant a money tree for the purpose.

He wrote how “LOI academies will be the source of players for the Irish international team going forward and will define the next generation of talent, and we’re working hard to secure the funding the academy structure needs in this country to produce that talent.” 

Progress can work both ways: bottom-up and top-down.

The XI Heimir Hallgrímsson picked gave hope that more immediate gains were incoming. Adding Evan Ferguson and Jake O’Brien – a defender with two goals in his last three games for Everton – to the starting side was early promise of attacking intentions.

Hallgrimsson had bemoaned Ireland’s passive second-half last Thursday and they started here as if their ears were burning. 

Mikey Johnston almost got in off a lovely one-two, O’Brien had a header palmed off the goalline from a corner. Both inside five minutes.

There were periods here of empty space, time filled by a vacuum and people eating chips and drinking beer. Other spells were decorated by intelligent Irish play, diagonal passes, passes ‘through the lines’, clever dummies and enterprising, interlinking moves.

Time and again we have seen Ireland dominated by average, mid-ranked visiting sides. This was different. 

Here we had front-foot football, but this is still a delicate thing, a team and a prototype project emerging from an embryonic state and prone to glitches.

Bulgaria’s opener screamed as much. The visitors hadn’t managed a single shot on the Irish frame before Valentin Antov crawled a rebound past Caoimhin Kelleher and into the corner of the net. 

It was both nobody’s fault and a dreadful concession.

A ‘doh!’ moment.

This is how it will be for the foreseeable. Some good, some bad. The second-half was the same: there were lulls and mistakes as Bulgaria stuck their necks out a tad more, but some encouragement spliced in there with it.

Evan Ferguson’s goal stitched it all together, the Bettystown striker taking the ball in a deep-lying position, turning and playing a one-two with Azaz before thumping home a finish that gave Ireland back the aggregate lead and announcing his own rebirth after injury.

The second, from Adam Idah, gave them the win on the night and on aggregate. 

It marked a fourth win from sixth games, three of them eked out from losing positions. That alone is a seismic shift for a team that had become so familiar with defeat.

Armenia had already been beaten 9-1 on aggregate by Georgia in a Nations League double header earlier in the day. Hungary had lost out 6-1 to Turkey over the course of 180 minutes. Two World Cup group opponents in the doldrums. And Ireland on the up.

And staying up. That’ll do.