Ryan Manning ‘disappointed’ to be suspended for crunch Portugal visit

“Whoever the gaffer puts in next camp against Portugal will be ready to go and there to help the team. I was disappointed from a personal perspective," he said.

Ryan Manning after the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group F qualifying match between Republic of Ireland and Armenia. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile.

Six of Ireland’s starting 11 against Armenia began the crucial World Cup qualifier knowing that one more yellow card would rule them out of their next home match against Portugal.

But given that had Ireland failed to gain revenge on the Armenians at the Aviva Stadium, rendering their clash with the Portuguese next month almost meaningless, there was no option for those six players other than to go into Tuesday night’s decider full blooded.

Jayson Molumby navigated that tight rope for 70 minutes before eventually landing in the referee’s notebook but at least the blow from his absence will cause will be softened by the return of Josh Cullen, who was suspended for Armenia’s visit.

But just eight minutes later Ryan Manning also received the caution that will rule him out of the visit of Cristiano Ronaldo and co, who will be without Bruno Fernandes following his booking against Hungary, which will be of bigger concern to Heimir Hallgrimsson.

“Look, you can't think about, there's no point thinking about next camp if we didn't win this game,” said Manning, whose teammates Evan Ferguson, Caoimhin Kelleher, Festy Ebosele and Nathan Collins all avoided a similar ban.

“You have to just play what's in front of you. We've got a massive squad of talented lads who are ready to step in.

“Whoever the gaffer puts in next camp against Portugal will be ready to go and there to help the team. I was disappointed from a personal perspective.

“I think Hungary going there and getting a point tonight, we should have got a point away there.

“They're obviously a team full of superstars, but... a good solid defensive team, we have shape right, we transition well, the crowd behind us and if you get the Aviva rocking it can be a really tough place to come.

“We just have to use that, every trick of the trade we have to do, and it has to be an unbelievable performance, but I think we can definitely go and get something from that game.”

Ireland produced far from an unbelievable performance in the first half against Armenia and Manning admitted Tigran Barseghyan’s sending off for a headbutt on Finn Azaz helped swing the crucial clash in their favour.

“We were frustrated (at half time) because I think we sat in a bit too deep, we sort of went too much into a low block, but I feel like we were quite solid when we were in that shape,” he added.

“It was just about the transitions and making sure that we didn't sink too low that we weren't able to transition on them. In the second half, they went down to ten men which helps, but I think we were better on the transition.

“We were able to be solid defensively, win it back, and then we were able to exploit the space in behind. Once we started to do that, then the spaces started opening up everywhere.

“We created a lot of chances, we should have probably scored more than we did, but we got there in the end.

“We took a lot of positives from the Portugal game, despite the result. We dug in, we were solid, we didn't make silly mistakes by people jumping out at the wrong times, we were a good unit.

“We had to show them respect, they're no push-over. Confidence was probably a little bit low coming into the camp, but we had a good training, built up to the Portugal game, had a game plan and executed it for 91 minutes out there.

“Tonight, then, to get the win, it was just massive. It takes it to the next camp, which is what we would have asked for.”