- Dave Donnelly
- Sat, Oct 14 2023
Dave Donnelly reports from Lansdowne Road
The remaining embers of Stephen Kenny’s Ireland tenure burned dimly as his side slumped to a fifth defeat in six Euro 2024 qualifiers to all but extinguish hopes of making it to Germany.
Tallaght man Kenny will remain in charge until the end of the campaign but a limp 2-0 defeat at home to Greece was a lowlight of a reign that has also seen ignominious reverses to Luxembourg and Armenia.
First-half goals from ex-Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis - a thumping header that left Gavin Bazunu motionless - and Giorgos Masouras sealed the deal for Gus Poyet’s side.
The Greeks now face a straight shoot-out with the Netherlands - whom they host on Monday - for a spot at the finals alongside group leaders and Dutch conquerors France.
But for Kenny it’s a question of when rather than if as his team left the field to a chorus of boos only made quieter by the mass exodus of fans in the final ten minutes.
What had begun a promising regime - albeit one hamstrung by bad luck with Covid and injuries - now promises to end with another listless performance in front of a less-than-packed Aviva.
Ireland’s committed singing section held up Palestinian flags and banners in support of the innocent victims of the ongoing deluge of Israeli violence in the Gaza Strip.
And they were shown signs of promise on the pitch in the early stages of a must-win game as Chiedozie Ogbene danced into the box before teeing up Will Smallbone to shoot at Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Ogbene appeared to have the Liverpool left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas on toast with a series of mazy runs in the opening ten minutes.
But it was his fellow Premier League attacker Evan Ferguson who hit the beans-on moments later as he curled a low shot onto the base of the Greece upright.
Debutant Liam Scales, Celtic’s former UCD and Shamrock Rovers defender, nodded a Smallbone cross wide but that was as good as it got for Ireland.
Southampton midfielder Smallbone saw yellow for an accidental stray arm on Dmitris Kourbelis before Bazunu spilled a Masouras shot, only to be rescued by a Nathan Collins clearance.
A clear pull by Matt Doherty on Giakoumakis went unpunished in the box but the Atlanta United goalscorer made no doubt moments later.
Tsimikas nutmegged Ogbene and surged infield before crossing for the striker, who easily lost an error-prone Collins before burying his header in the top corner.
Stand-in captain Shane Duffy was unlucky to be denied a penalty when he was pulled down in the box by Giakoumakis.
And Jason Knight’s heavy touch was all that denied him a clear run on goal after he intercepted a wild pass from hot-and-cold Tsimikas.
Pelkas should have made it 2-0 after Ireland were again caught on the break and Bazunu pushed his effort over, but that mattered little as Greece scored again in injury time.
What appeared a handball by Pelkas led to a direct Greece break and the İstanbul Başakşehir winger pulled back for Masouras to steer home from close range.
The introduction of Ryan Manning at half time for Collins - a tactical switch with Scales moving inside to centre-back - offered Ireland more of a threat out wide.
Manning played in Southampton team-mate Smallbone, who saw his shot from a tight angle put behind for a corner in a rare sight of goal for the home side.
Greece, with a two-goal lead to protect, sat back more as the game went on but Ireland showed little movement up top, the visitors content to let Ireland have the ball in their own half.
Substitute Callum Robinson chipped in a superb cross for the onrushing Matt Doherty late on and his downward header was superbly swept away by the keeper.
That took any remaining steam out of Ireland’s attempted fightback and, with it, the last opportunity for Dundalk's record-breaking boss Kenny to lead the side into a new campaign.
Republic of Ireland: Gavin Bazunu; Nathan Collins (Ryan Manning 46), Matt Doherty, Shane Duffy, Liam Scales; Alan Browne (Michael Johnston 70), Joshua Cullen, Jason Knight, Chiedozie Ogbene (Adam Idah 85), Will Smallbone (Callum Robinson 70); Evan Ferguson.
Subs not used: Mark Travers (gk), Max O'Leary (gk), Dara O'Shea, Andrew Omobamidele, Jamie McGrath, Jayson Molumby, Mark Sykes, Festy Ebosele.
Booked: Will Smallbone (10).
Greece: Odisseas Vlachodimos; Konstantinos Mavropanos, Panagiotis Retsos, Lazaros Rota, Konstantinos Tsimikas; Tasos Bakasetas (Manolis Siopis 88), Dmitris Kourbells (Andreas Bouchalakis 64), Petros Mantalos; Giorgos Giakoumakis (Fotis Ioannidis 70), Giorgos Masouras (Konstantinos Koulierakis 87), Dimitris Pelkas (Tasos Chatzigiovanis 64).
Subs not used: Sokratis Dioudis (gk), Alexandros Paschalaskis (gk), Manolis Saliakas, Dimitris Giannoulis, Sotiris Alexandropoulous, Taxiarchis Fountas, Vangelis Pavlidis.
Booked: Dimitris Pelkas (56), Andreas Bouchalakis (75).
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden).
Attendance: 41,239 (official).
extratime.com Player of the Match: Giorgos Giakoumakis (Greece).
