Inside Track: It’s Ireland’s turn to wear the ‘awful’ tag

A headline from last week could be repeated here and wouldn’t be out of place. To recall: “From the awful to the not too bad.”

The ‘awful’ were England, unimpressive in their 2-0 win over Andorra, and the ‘not too bad’ the Republic of Ireland, who rallied to claim a draw in a home game with Hungary. Both sides were involved in World Cup qualifiers.

READ NEXT: Kilduff savours sweet revenge as Dundalk overpower Bray

One week on with another series of matches decided and the roles are reversed, England putting Serbia away with consummate ease, and Ireland having another of those terrible results that have become all too common in recent times, losing away 2-1 to lowly Armenia.

Because I had lost two hours of my life that I’ll never recover watching England in their tie with Andorra, I didn’t take in the Three Lions’ outing last Tuesday evening. Tuning in to the Ireland game instead was a no-brainer.

I was in form for a good game after seeing another fine Louth senior championship match the previous night in Darver, St Patrick’s finishing one point ahead of Dreadnots.

Nothing but frustration at the end of the night. No, not because England won, but because Ireland were terrible. It wasn’t that Hallgrimsson’s side collapsed – there were never really standing for that to happen.

That it was only a goal defeat can be attributed to Kelleher’s goalkeeping and Ferguson coming up with a goal that deserved to be acclaimed, but wasn’t; it came at a time when Ireland were two down and being run ragged by a team very low in the world standings.

The writer assigned to do the Ireland players’ rating in the paper I read the following day has, I’m certain, a much better knowledge of the game than me.

His figures? A 7 for Caoimhín Kelleher and another for Evan Ferguson. Spot on. Six of the others got a 4, three of them, and two subs, a 3. Spot on, again.

What the defeat means is, after just two series of matches, Ireland have one point from a possible six in Group F and are as good as out of the running for a place in next year’s finals, taking place in America, Canada and Mexico.

Hallgrimasson, the Icelander who can only be feeling the heat – or maybe it’s the cold – has another four qualifiers to oversee as manager. If he has since heard what a television commentator had to say late on in the night of the game, he might feel all is not lost.

Looking at the games that are left, the man on the telly came up with a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’, saying, in as many words, that there was still a chance of Ireland qualifying, taking second place of Portugal, and depriving Germany of a 2026 trip across the Atlantic. Let’s be kind and together go: Better to live in hope than die in despair.

It’s 24 years since Ireland last made the World Cup final, qualification that year the third in a little over a decade. The calibre of player that brought up the treble is not today available, though you’d have to think Kelleher and Ferguson can make it to the top.

Reports on the England game were glowing, especially those carried in papers across the Irish Sea. The 5-0 victory was emphatic, making qualification for the finals a foregone conclusion.

Harry M didn’t get a game, but Harry K did, and scored. Rashford was also on the mark, showing the kind of enthusiasm that wasn’t there in his last few months with Man U. He’s on loan with Barcelona, but is unlikely to renew acquaintances with Old Trafford.