Ireland suffer another Greek tragedy at the Aviva losing 2-0 to an average Greece side

Republic of Ireland 0

Greece 2

The Republic of Ireland’s lacklustre year continued with a 2-0 defeat to Greece in the UEFA Nations League at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

Fotis Ioannidis and Christos Tzolis got the goals for the visitors to Dublin, on a night that saw signs of promise under new manager Heimir Hallgrímsson fade away into familiar issues and frustrations.

Still, there were whispers of progress or the promise of a stable foundation going forward. 

Ireland contained Greece by playing a compact 4-4-2 that transitioned into 4-5-1 out of possession, and that allowed the team to press as a contained unit.

There was even a VAR decision early on after a Dara O’Shea long throw into the area. 

The referee ruled that there was no hand-ball, and the next advance by the Boys in Green involved a sequence with Chiedozie Ogbene and Will Smallbone. 

At the end of this was Alan Browne and a tame effort by the midfielder went straight into the hands of Odysseas Clachodimos.

Greece had only two chances during the first half, with the first being a Konstantinos Koulierakis header that hit the roof of the net. 

They won a free-kick in the 25th minute and an in-swinging ball from Tasos Bakasetas was pushed out of play at the near post by Caoimhin Kelleher, and the resulting corner came to nothing.

Ireland went on to finish the first half with a flourish. Sam Szmodics started the burst by shooting wide from the edge of the area, and Ogbene finished it with an audacious half-volley that was ruled out for offside after the ball hit the back of the net.

It seemed like everything was going according to plan, then Ioannidis fired into the top left corner from distance in the 50th minute.

The chance to equalise after the restart fell to Jason Knight and the midfielder nodded an Ogbene cross down for Clachodimos to catch.

There were plenty of passing sequences late in the game that looked like they would create something. 

Smallbone personally embodied the mood inside the ground during this spell as he failed to get a shot-away after the ball dropped to him in the 80th minute.

Callum Robinson got into a similar position after replacing Ogbene and a deflected effort won his side a corner, and the rally for a late equaliser ended with Tzolis scoring on the counter in the 87th minute.

Republic of Ireland: Caoimhin Kelleher; Dara O’Shea, Andrew Omobamidele, Alan Browne, Will Smallbone, Robbie Brady, Jayson Molumby, Jason Knight, Chiedozie Ogbene, Sam Szmodics, Nathan Collins.

Subs: Evan Ferguson for Molumby (63); Matt Doherty for Omobamidele (73), Kasey McAteer for Knight (73), Adam Idah for Szmodics (83), Callum Robinson for Ogbene (83).

Greece: Odysseas Clachodimos; Konstantinos Koulierakis, Ntinos Macropanos, Andreas Bouchalakis, Christos Tzolis, Fotis Ioannidis, Tasos Bakasetas, Lazaros Rota, Tasos Chatzigiovanis, Kostas Tsimikas, Manolis Siopis.

Subs: Christos Zafeiris for Chatzigiovanis (67); Dimitris Pelkas for Bouchalakis (67), Giorgos Vagiannidis for Tzolis (88), Vangelis Pavlidis for Ioannidis (88), Andreas Ntoi for Siopis (88).

Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway).