{"id":77219,"date":"2025-10-13T07:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T07:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/77219\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T07:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T07:08:08","slug":"seamus-coleman-reveals-he-confronted-referee-over-decisions-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/77219\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e9amus Coleman reveals he confronted referee over decisions \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pain and heartbreak all over again.<\/p>\n

Familiar emotions were shared between the Republic of Ireland<\/a> players and 2,700 travelling fans inside Est\u00e1dio Jos\u00e9 Alvalade on Saturday night. R\u00faben Neves had settled the issue with a winning goal in the 91st minute<\/a> to keep Portugal in pole position for World Cup qualification.<\/p>\n

Ireland now hope Roberto Martinez\u2019s side can wrap up Group F by beating Hungary in Lisbon on Tuesday before Portugal come to Dublin on November 13th. <\/p>\n

All week, the noise from Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s camp was about producing an \u201cIrish performance\u201d to atone for the damaging defeat to Armenia in Yerevan last month.<\/p>\n

Ireland weathered 76 Portugal attacks before Neves\u2019s late header beat the outstanding Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher. <\/p>\n

Equally inspirational resistance from captain Nathan Collins and S\u00e9amus Coleman \u2013 recalled on his 37th birthday \u2013 made Ireland look comfortable operating with their backs firmly pinned against the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, I\u2019ve dealt with defeats for a long time,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cYou feel sorry for yourself for 10 or 15 minutes, sometimes longer, but ultimately we have a game on Tuesday against Armenia and we have to put right what went wrong [in Yerevan].<\/p>\n

\"IrelandIreland manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson can’t hide his disappointment after Portugal’s late goal. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group, we need to put that right in front of our fans, because the way they travelled tonight was incredible. We are very lucky to have them and it would have been nice to send them home with a point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portugal\u2019s two yellow cards went to Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, both of which were for hacking down the relentless Jayson Molumby. Ireland, by comparison, picked up six bookings, which emphasised the lopsided view adopted by Slovak referee Ivan Kru\u017eliak. <\/p>\n

\u201cI found it difficult to speak to him all night, yet he was speaking with Bruno,\u201d Coleman revealed. \u201cI challenged him on that \u2013 \u2018you speak to Bruno but not me\u2019. It was frustrating to try and understand his decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Everton<\/a> player rolled back the years, producing a composed display at right-back, but he could not hide his disappointment with Hallgr\u00edmsson leaving him out of last month\u2019s squad for the 2-2 draw with Hungary<\/a> and 2-1 loss in Armenia<\/a>. He also dismissed the manager\u2019s theory that the green shirt is \u201ctoo heavy\u201d for the younger Irish players. <\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Dara O’Shea speaks to referee Ivan Kru\u017eliak after Saturday’s defeat to Portugal in Lisbon. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cIs the jersey not supposed to be heavy?\u201d Coleman bristled. \u201cYou are playing for Ireland. It\u2019s pressure, but it\u2019s amazing pressure. There are only 11 players who can be picked to play for your country at any given time and you are expected to give a performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd listen, I have been on the end of games like Luxembourg at home (in 2021) and have taken the rap from you guys as well \u2013 it\u2019s part and parcel of it and you just have to find a way to keep going. So the jersey might be heavy, but it\u2019s supposed to be heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Talking Point: Ireland\u2019s strengths and limitations were all on show in LisbonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ireland remain bottom of the group with one point from three games. When this World Cup campaign is fully examined, the decision to overlook Coleman, Molumby and Festy Ebosele for the September squad may be considered costly.<\/p>\n

Ebosele gave Nuno Mendes, the Paris Saint-Germain full back, a hard time down the right to keep the Portugal defence honest in the first-half. Molumby showed his quality while toiling in midfield alongside Josh Cullen. <\/p>\n

\"IrelandIreland goalkeeper Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher saves Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Jake O\u2019Brien was named man of the match by RT\u00c9, which was a surprise choice ahead of Kelleher. The Ireland goalkeeper denied Cristiano Ronaldo with an outstanding penalty save in the 75th minute. The spot kick had been controversially awarded by Kru\u017eliak after the ball brushed Dara O\u2019Shea\u2019s arm before hitting his chest.<\/p>\n

As Kelleher celebrated his save, Kru\u017eliak caused further irritation among Ireland players by insisting on a VAR check to see if the goalkeeper had stepped off the goal line.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ken Early: Portugal flexed their star power and the referee duly obligedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Amid the chaos and confusion, Molumby received a yellow card while an earlier booking for Cullen rules the Burnley skipper out of Tuesday\u2019s win-or-bust tie at the Aviva Stadium. <\/p>\n

\u201cGutted, flat, devastated \u2013 I think we deserved at least a point,\u201d said Molumby, head bowed but eyes ablaze after his stirring shift. \u201cWe don\u2019t manage the game for probably one moment where we get a throw-in in their half and we take it quick. We\u2019re not quite set up and then they go on the counter . . . it\u2019s gutting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JaysonJayson Molumby (right) delivered a tireless performance for Ireland against Portugal.
\nPhotograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cWe got back to an Irish performance,\u201d the Waterford man continued. \u201cThe bare minimum playing for Ireland: run, fight, work hard, give everything. We lacked that probably, maybe, in the last few games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molumby dismissed the suggestion that a different tactical approach is required against Armenia as goal difference could be a factor in reaching the World Cup play-offs next March. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be the exact same with and without the ball,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe a bit better on the ball. Out of possession, you can\u2019t go away from the basics of football and that is running, fighting hard. We cannot slack off whatsoever. We need to raise it again on Tuesday against Armenia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cullen\u2019s suspension means Will Smallbone is set to partner Molumby in midfield.<\/p>\n

Cullen\u2019s suspension means Will Smallbone is set to partner Molumby in midfield, with Charlton\u2019s Conor Coventry called up as cover. Celtic defender Liam Scales will not join up with the squad following a family bereavement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pain and heartbreak all over again. Familiar emotions were shared between the Republic of Ireland players and 2,700…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4700,61,60,1842,48229,112,4018],"class_list":["post-77219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-seamus-coleman","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}