Ten minutes into the second half it looked as though Evan Ferguson was about to be hooked.
Played in by Troy Parrott, who had hustled the Bulgarian defenders into giving it away at the back, Ferguson decided to try and side-foot the ball into the corner from way outside the box, rather than run a few more metres to reach a more dangerous shooting position.
[ Ferguson and Idah strike to see off Bulgaria in Nations League playoffOpens in new window ]
Plamen Iliev’s save wasn’t comfortable - he made it look more difficult than it was, mainly because his starting position was too far to the left. Ferguson must have spotted that when he chose the early shot - but it still seemed a strange decision.
It looked as though he didn’t back himself to still be ahead of the covering defender by the time he’d run those extra yards. Tiredness? A lack of confidence? Whatever the reason, it was the kind of moment to make a manager conclude it wasn’t going to be this player’s night and prepare a replacement.
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Sure enough, Adam Idah was soon warming up along with Ryan Manning and Mark Sykes but Ireland were lucky there wasn’t a break in play to allow them to come on because Ferguson was about to give the Irish crowd a glimpse of the player they all dream he will become.
There wasn’t anything on when he received a pass from Nathan Collins on the halfway line but as he turned he realised he had been left in space by the retreating Bulgarian defence and he drove forward with the ball at his feet.
As he approached the box he fired a quick pass inside to Finn Azaz who applied just the right fraction of a second of a delay before feeding it back towards Ferguson, who had continued his run and stolen in behind a line of sleeping Bulgarian defenders.
The first touch was sound and the second swept the ball superbly into the roof of Iliev’s net. A brilliant goal at a crucial moment, rescuing a night that was threatening to go very wrong for Ireland.
They had started the game well enough. Robbie Brady’s crosses were a weapon in the first half, with Parrott hitting the post from one and seeing a header narrowly go over from another. Finn Azaz was again clever and creative and Mikey Johnston excited the crowd with some fast footwork in the early stages.
But on the half-hour mark Ireland again conceded the first goal, as they have in seven of eight matches since Heimir Hallgrímsson arrived.
Bulgaria floated a corner kick to Georgi Milanov loitering 25 yards out and Nathan Collins’ effort to block his low volley set it nicely for Valentin Antov, who reacted faster than Jake O’Brien to poke it past the hopelessly exposed Kelleher. Between Collins’ weak block and O’Brien’s inability to put in a meaningful tackle on Antov, the goal wasn’t a great one for either Irish centre-back.
There was a curious interlude as the referee pulled a calf towards the end of the first half and was subbed off at half-time, with the result that the start of the second half was delayed by 10 minutes, presumably to give the fourth official time to warm up. So much for the suggestion that FIFA’s planned World Cup final half-time show will have to be compressed into 15 minutes to respect the sanctity of the interval. Reasons to extend the break can easily be found.
With Ireland needing a big second half, Collins instead set an uncertain tone with a pass out of defence straight to an opponent in midfield. Soon after Parrott set up Johnston on the right of the area, but with plenty of time to set his sights he sliced a poor shot high and wide with team-mates in the middle screaming for a cross.
Johnston’s early promise in the game had faded, the speed of his dribbling serving only to highlight the sparseness of his end product. Ferguson scored the goal that turned the game, and two minutes later when the first subs came on it was Johnston and Parrott who were the attacking players replaced by Mark Sykes and Idah.
These two combined to score the winner in the 84th minute, Sykes first racing forward into the Bulgarian box on the counter-attack, then turning back and hoisting it across to Idah arriving to volley low past Iliev.
A fourth win in eight games under Hallgrímsson and a third 2-1 comeback victory. It feels as though the team is in a better place than it has been for a while. Players like Parrott and Idah are looking confident at this level. Four years ago when Stephen Kenny was putting them into the team they couldn’t make the difference in these games. Now they believe they can.
So much depends on whether Ferguson can put the injuries behind him and start delivering moments like tonight at club level. Having a world-class player can be a huge catalyst for an international football team. Look at the Khvicha Kvaratskhelia effect on Georgia, who thrashed Ireland’s World Cup qualifying opponents Armenia 9-1 on aggregate in their Nations League playoff. Hungary also took a bad beating in their playoff, losing 6-1 on aggregate to Turkey.
If it’s the hope that kills you, these suddenly feel like dangerous times.
