Rep. of Ireland 1 - 2 Armenia
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Click on the image to view a selection of photos from the game, courtesy of Aindréas Lynch
Republic of Ireland Under 21’s suffered another defeat as they went down 2-1 to Armenia with a very poor performance on Wednesday evening.
Ireland were off the pace and were easily beaten by a well organised and technically superior outfit. The defeat leaves Ireland without a win in their seven games so far.
Armenia began the game the strongest with Goharyan the first to trouble the Irish defence after just two minutes, but his weak shot rolled wide of the goal.
Irelands first attack of the game arrived shortly afterwards. Cillian Sheridan’s flicked header reached Alan Judge, who in turn flicked to Scannell but his shot was smartly saved by Hovhannisyan.
Ireland then took control of the game, creating numerous half chances. Cillian Sheridan then had his shot saved, after good work from Alan Judge and Seamas Coleman down the right wing.
Armenia then had the chance to take the lead after Darren Dennehy misjudged a long ball allowing Goharyan to collect before his low shot rolled just wide of the left hand post, with Redmond struggling.
Armenia began to impose themselves more on the game and almost scored on 16 minutes. Manoyan whipped a ball over Dennehy’s head into Goharyan path, and as he looked set to strike, Callum Morris slid in to superbly to make the block.
Owen Garvan should have done better with a shot from the edge of the box on the half hour following a Conor Clifford free kick, but he blazed high and wide.
The opening goal arrived on 34 minutes. Bad defending allowed Levon Airapetian the room and the time to fire a low shot under Shane Redmond. Redmond will no doubt be unhappy with his attempted save.
Six minutes later, Armenia doubled their lead. David Meyler committed the foul on the edge of the box, and Gevorg Ghazaryan curled a superb right footed free kick into Shane Redmond’s bottom right corner of his goal, leaving him with no chance.
Ireland almost grabbed a goal back on the stroke of half time. Good work down the right by Cian Hughton, Alan Judge and Conor Clifford created the change but the resulting shot was blocked.
Ian Daly replaced David Meyler at half time, with Meyler having had little influence in the first 45 minutes.
Armenia almost added a third after Seamas Coleman lost possession allowing Ghazaryan to run at goal before passing to Goharyan, but Redmond pulled off a top class save to deny him.
Sheridan should have grabbed a goal on 67 minutes, but he headed just wide after an excellent Alan Judge cross.
Twelve minutes before the end, Armenia were reduced to ten men when Masis Voskanian was bizarrely sent off for a second yellow card for apparent time wasting, much to the bemusement of the Armenian team and coaching staff.
Ireland grabbed a consolation on 80 minutes. Hughton made a burst down the left wing, and after his initial shot was saved, Ian Daly was on hand to fire home. Two minutes later and Ireland almost had an unlikely equaliser as Coleman found himself unmarked to fire a volley inches wide of the far post.
Despite the defeat, a positive to Irish fans was the stand out performance of 18 year old Chelsea midfielder Conor Clifford. The youngest member of the squad was superb throughout.
Rep of Ireland U21: Shane Redmond, Seamas Coleman, Cian Hughton, Callum Morris, Darren Dennehy, David Meyler (Ian Daly 45’), Alan Judge, Conor Clifford, Cillian Sheridan, Owen Garvan (C), Sean Scannell (Terry Dixon 62’)
Subs not used: James McKeown, Scott Davies, Olanrewaju Oyebanjo, Kevin Long, Seamas Conneely
Armenia U21: Edvard Hovhannisyan, Artak Yedigaryan, Artur Yushpashyan, Artashes Arakelyan, Levon Airapetian, Edgar Malakyan (Hirach Yagan 70), Davit Manoyan (C)( Mihran Manasyan 90’), Masis Voskanian, Gevorg Ghazaryan, Artak Dashyan, Hovhannes Goharyan.
Subs not used: Gevorg Prazyan, Gagik Daghbashyan, Gevorg Badalyan, Albert Tadevosyan, Hovhannes Hambardzumyan.
Man of the Match: Conor Clifford.
Referee: Nerijus Dunauskas (LTU)
Republic of Ireland Under 21’s suffered another defeat as they went down 2-1 to Armenia with a very poor performance on Wednesday evening.
Ireland were off the pace and were easily beaten by a well organised and technically superior outfit. The defeat leaves Ireland without a win in their seven games so far.
Armenia began the game the strongest with Goharyan the first to trouble the Irish defence after just two minutes, but his weak shot rolled wide of the goal.
Irelands first attack of the game arrived shortly afterwards. Cillian Sheridan’s flicked header reached Alan Judge, who in turn flicked to Scannell but his shot was smartly saved by Hovhannisyan.
Ireland then took control of the game, creating numerous half chances. Cillian Sheridan then had his shot saved, after good work from Alan Judge and Seamas Coleman down the right wing.
Armenia then had the chance to take the lead after Darren Dennehy misjudged a long ball allowing Goharyan to collect before his low shot rolled just wide of the left hand post, with Redmond struggling.
Armenia began to impose themselves more on the game and almost scored on 16 minutes. Manoyan whipped a ball over Dennehy’s head into Goharyan path, and as he looked set to strike, Callum Morris slid in to superbly to make the block.
Owen Garvan should have done better with a shot from the edge of the box on the half hour following a Conor Clifford free kick, but he blazed high and wide.
The opening goal arrived on 34 minutes. Bad defending allowed Levon Airapetian the room and the time to fire a low shot under Shane Redmond. Redmond will no doubt be unhappy with his attempted save.
Six minutes later, Armenia doubled their lead. David Meyler committed the foul on the edge of the box, and Gevorg Ghazaryan curled a superb right footed free kick into Shane Redmond’s bottom right corner of his goal, leaving him with no chance.
Ireland almost grabbed a goal back on the stroke of half time. Good work down the right by Cian Hughton, Alan Judge and Conor Clifford created the change but the resulting shot was blocked.
Ian Daly replaced David Meyler at half time, with Meyler having had little influence in the first 45 minutes.
Armenia almost added a third after Seamas Coleman lost possession allowing Ghazaryan to run at goal before passing to Goharyan, but Redmond pulled off a top class save to deny him.
Sheridan should have grabbed a goal on 67 minutes, but he headed just wide after an excellent Alan Judge cross.
Twelve minutes before the end, Armenia were reduced to ten men when Masis Voskanian was bizarrely sent off for a second yellow card for apparent time wasting, much to the bemusement of the Armenian team and coaching staff.
Ireland grabbed a consolation on 80 minutes. Hughton made a burst down the left wing, and after his initial shot was saved, Ian Daly was on hand to fire home. Two minutes later and Ireland almost had an unlikely equaliser as Coleman found himself unmarked to fire a volley inches wide of the far post.
Despite the defeat, a positive to Irish fans was the stand out performance of 18 year old Chelsea midfielder Conor Clifford. The youngest member of the squad was superb throughout.
Rep of Ireland U21: Shane Redmond, Seamas Coleman, Cian Hughton, Callum Morris, Darren Dennehy, David Meyler (Ian Daly 45’), Alan Judge, Conor Clifford, Cillian Sheridan, Owen Garvan (C), Sean Scannell (Terry Dixon 62’)
Subs not used: James McKeown, Scott Davies, Olanrewaju Oyebanjo, Kevin Long, Seamas Conneely
Armenia U21: Edvard Hovhannisyan, Artak Yedigaryan, Artur Yushpashyan, Artashes Arakelyan, Levon Airapetian, Edgar Malakyan (Hirach Yagan 70), Davit Manoyan (C)( Mihran Manasyan 90’), Masis Voskanian, Gevorg Ghazaryan, Artak Dashyan, Hovhannes Goharyan.
Subs not used: Gevorg Prazyan, Gagik Daghbashyan, Gevorg Badalyan, Albert Tadevosyan, Hovhannes Hambardzumyan.
Man of the Match: Conor Clifford.
Referee: Nerijus Dunauskas (LTU)
About Brendan White
Brendan White is Extratime News Editor and is responsible for the news section of Extratime.ie. Brendan also covers matches in Dublin and Waterford. You can contact Brendan on twitter @whitebrendan. View Full Profile