Gavin Cooney reports from Yerevan, Armenia

HEIMIR HALLGRIMSSON LED a handful of Irish journalists to the end of a narrow corridor in the upper recesses of the Republican Stadium in Yerevan, initially standing in the dark before his press officer found a switch to illuminate him beneath a gloomy, fluorescent light.

Hallgrimsson then lowered himself onto a window sill to prepare for the media’s latest prosecution of an Irish football debacle.

The Irish manager gave his evidence in a low voice that rasped at its edges: his throat was one of the many things left strained by another mortifying night. He had to raise his voice once more, to be heard over the rumble of applause that broke in the adjoining room. The victorious Armenian manager had arrived at his press conference and the locals gave their thanks and praise. 

Hallgrimsson was meanwhile languishing outside, fending off recriminations. 

We have been party to too many of these recriminations in the past, and they have often turned tense and fraught. This edition, however, was monotoned and doleful, and it was all the worse for that.

It’s a cycle through which everyone has been much too often, in which the Irish squad talk themselves into a positive frame of mind and then collapse at the first sign of on-pitch adversity. 

Hallgrimsson sounded like Stephen Kenny in expressing a kind of bafflement as to how his players could have been so bad at the moment it mattered most. 

“Yesterday we felt really well, we had a really good meeting”, he said. “The players were together, there was a togetherness in the room. It was surprising to me, like to the players themselves, the performance today.” 

That these humiliations are still coming as a surprise to all involved is what is most mystifying. We are old enough to remember the Paddy McCarthy press conference of last week, when he said the squad were “on the cusp of something special.” Nathan Collins sang a similar song prior to the Hungary game last Saturday, while on the day before the game in Yerevan, Josh Cullen referenced the 2022 defeat in Armenia and said that the squad now have a “new mindset.” All of this experience, said Cullen, has taught the squad what they needed to do to beat Armenia this time around. 

But for all the information the Irish players have learned on this years-long road to perdition, they are governed by something more primal when the games begin. 

We asked Hallgrimsson if he genuinely believes his players are good enough to qualify for a major tournament. 

“In my opinion, yes”, he said. “It’s a little bit down to old scars. They are not as confident as they should be, in my opinion. They probably carried something from the past. We said before that it’s a heavy shirt for them to carry. In my opinion, they should qualify.” 

This is a weak Irish squad, but with the exceptions of Caoimhín Kelleher and Evan Ferguson, they shrink when they put on an Irish jersey. Only Kelleher and maybe Ferguson can say they have taken their club form into Irish games. The rest instead play like they have been suddenly consumed by some kind of brain fog.

“It’s an honour when you play for your country, you can play for all the people, your family members, your friends and everyone”, said Hallgrimsson. “You want to do good, and when you don’t, then it’s a heavy burden. That’s what representing your nation means. If you don’t do good, you disappoint a lot of people.

“That’s probably something that people who haven’t played for a national team don’t know. So it’s a heavy burden when playing. It’s fun when winning games but tough when you lose.” 

The FAI still don’t support the squad with a sports psychologist, and while hiring one would hardly be a panacea, Hallgrimmson did acknowledge, “I don’t think that it would make it worse.”

Continuing in his hushed and chastened tone, Hallgrimsson could not shirk the sheer bleakness of the situation. 

“It’s very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now”, he said. “Of course we’ll go back, analyse and see where we can improve. . . It’s just honestly tough to see the light.” 

Hallgrimsson did his best to disagree with our assertion that his squad is in a spiral that pre-dates his arrival, pointing to the fact that Ireland arrived in Yerevan on their longest winning run since 2022, which was also abruptly ended by Armenia. But this is a doom loop, where the players’ efforts to overcome the scars of their past are thwarted by the fact those scars are still too raw to touch. 

The hope that changing the manager would be the catalyst to allow the squad conquer themselves has proved forlorn, so it’s difficult to know how this turns around. The players’ confidence is so shattered that they cannot play in such a way that they might find some confidence. 

Twice more Hallgrimsson told us it was difficult to see the light. 

Ireland now have only four games remaining in their qualifying group, two of which are against Portugal. Hallgrimsson said the standard stuff about the Armenia game being a setback and that they squad must pick themselves back up for the Portugal game next month. These bromides were exposed as such by the fact he had earlier admitted that Ireland already need a miracle to qualify. A quick-sprint campaign now suddenly feels forbiddingly long. 

“Obviously, I’m the one who will take the heat, and we need to support the players because they will continue to play for Ireland”, said Hallgrimsson with the air of a man who knows he won’t be around for much longer. 

At the end of the interview, Hallgrimsson told us to be kind to his players, because they need support. 

Time’s many whips and scorns have left a brutal impact on this squad and now we know that changing their manager won’t remove the scar tissue. Nor can the bulk of the players be changed, as these are the best the country has to offer. Hallgrimsson and his predecessor have scoured all potential options. 

So this is simply where the Irish team is now, sliding inexorably to the status of international minnow, with all involved too transfixed by the horror of the fall to be able to do anything about it. 

Ireland have now changed coaches and systems and philosophies and still they are losing away to Armenia. Everything has now been tried, but nothing has changed. 

Goodness knows when things will change. 

If things will ever change.