Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan; unless you are the Republic of Ireland football team, in which case your failures are the subject of a bitterly fought custody battle.

The final whistle had not yet blown on Ireland’s tea-time disaster in Yerevan on Tuesday when the call went out to round up the usual suspects. The manager, the players, the FAI, Brexit, globalisation, John Delaney, climate change and, as John Giles used to say on nights like these, kids these days with their personal stereos and pocket calculators.

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