Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson speaks to his players during a training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The longer-term legacy of Ireland’s humbling in Yerevan will become clear in November but there has been one shorter-term upside.
A combination of that unedifying collapse and the stirring response in Lisbon on Saturday has created the situation where Armenia at home now feels like a proper big match. An unexpected surge in ticket sales over the weekend has supported that argument.