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Armenia 2 Ireland 1
Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, right, with Killian Phillips, left, and Mikey Johnston after Ireland’s defeat in Yerevan
At least now we can stop the pretending. Stop talking about fans putting money away for a summer in north America at next year’s World Cup finals. Cease with the promises of being organised and resilient, where the current crop of Ireland players can stop talking about becoming heroes and writing their own chapters in the history books.
Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side are going nowhere, certainly not to a World Cup as this 2-1 loss away to Armenia – a side not even ranked in the top 100 in the world – is a new low in the modern era of this team. Ignore the bravado about Ireland pushing Portugal hard and competing with Hungary for second place, Ireland are now in a race to the bottom.