Ken Early on Greece vs Ireland: A night to forget, just terrible

Looking up at the electronic scoreboard at the Opap Arena, showing 2-1 to Greece, you saw the logo of sponsors Callista, manufacturers of artisan-crafted handbags and accessories. The word couldn’t help reminding you of Calista, the luxury hotel chain that welcomed the Ireland team during their recent warm-weather training camp near Antalya in Turkey.

Ireland were presumably able to avail of a group discount but if you do fancy staying there next week it’ll cost you nearly €700 a night. Maybe next time we should just ask the players to fly in on the day. We’d save a lot of money and the outcome could hardly be any worse.

Previous away disappointments in the Stephen Kenny era have had something to commend them or at least to mitigate them — brave performances, unfortunate injuries, empty stadiums, etc. This was just terrible.

A team selection that didn’t work and had to be changed at half-time, supposed stalwarts crumbling under pressure, our great attacking hope struggling at the periphery, unable to get into the forget, all capped off with a red card at the end for one of the most experienced players in the squad. Neither players nor coach emerge with any credit.

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There were thousands of empty yellow seats at the Opap, illustrating the current Greek indifference to a national team which has disappointed them by failing to qualify for anything in nearly a decade. These Greek fans are hard to please. Based on the first 15 minutes of this game, Greece would easily win the Champions League if only the cowards at Uefa would let them in.

At the end of a miserable night, Matt Doherty was confusingly sent off, apparently for barging into a Greek player who had tackled Michael Obafemi roughly

At least, that’s how good Ireland made them look. The first chance arrived after just a couple of minutes, Ireland’s right wing-back Doherty following a man inside and leaving Tsimikas with plenty of space free to pick out a man at the far post. Bazunu saved to concede the first of seven corners Greece would win in the first 10 minutes.

Ireland’s goalkeeper, who has endured a difficult first season in the Premier League with now-relegated Southampton, saved his team in these minutes as Greece hammered in shot after shot against a punchdrunk Ireland who seemed to have no idea how to stem the flow. The crowd responded as they realised Ireland were there for the taking and sure enough, on 15 minutes, Greece got the breakthrough.

The day before the match, Stephen Kenny had talked about how Callum O’Dowda was a “traditional” winger who has learned to play wing back. On this display, he urgently needs to go back to wing-back school. The penalty he gave away would not have been a penalty before the introduction of VAR, as the referee didn’t see it. But if you raise your hand to head height and block a cross the camera is always going to catch you. It’s hard to have sympathy for defenders who know this and keep doing it anyway.

The penalty was the culmination of a generally awful start for Ireland, but in a strange way it helped them to stabilise. The referees took so long to award the penalty that by the time the game kicked off again at 1-0, Greece had lost their rhythm and Ireland had gained a bit of composure.

On 28 minutes Ireland’s best move of the game culminated in a corner on the left. Smallbone crossed, Ferguson won it at the near post and Collins finished at the back. VAR corrected the linesman’s offside call, and out of nothing, Ireland were level.

You felt this was more than Ireland deserved, an impression backed up by some of the half-time statistics. Josh Cullen completed 57 per cent of his passes in the first half. You can’t win many matches at this level with a defensive midfielder performing like that. Smallbone had 60 per cent. No Greek player completed fewer than 75 per cent of their passes and nine of the 11 were over 80 per cent.

Kostas Tsimikas had been the dominant player in the game, with nobody in Ireland’s system picking him up. His counterpart, Matt Doherty, was failing to have any impact. Misplacing a pass in every three and struggling. Dara O’Shea was left out of the starting line-up despite being in “brilliant condition” because he hadn’t played since March. Yet Doherty has played only 18 minutes of club football since joining Atlético Madrid in January.

As for Adam Idah, it was hard to understand what he was meant to be doing out there. Kenny has always been a big believer in Idah, who played some great stuff for him in the under-21s, but this is senior level and it’s hard to see why Kenny picked him here ahead of Michael Obafemi, who not only has scored some goals for Ireland but also has demonstrated an ability to create for others, as with the chances he laid on for Troy Parrott against Scotland.

Removing Idah at half-time constituted an admission that his selection had been a mistake. In came Mikey Johnston, who has produced some exciting runs in his limited time thus far. Four minutes later Johnston was nutmegged as Greece scored what proved to be the winner through Matsouras.

At the end of a miserable night, Matt Doherty was confusingly sent off, apparently for barging into a Greek player who had tackled Michael Obafemi roughly.

Doherty’s struggle is symbolic of the fading promise of the Kenny regime. When the manager took over in 2020 Doherty, who had been marginalised by Martin O’Neill and Mick McCarthy, was expected to be one of the main beneficiaries. As it has turned out, Doherty has played fewer minutes of league football in the three seasons since Kenny became Ireland manager than in the single season before he arrived. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you were hoping.