Ireland have shown they were up to Portugal challenge before

The World Cup qualifiers return this week with some maybe wishing the gap was longer after Ireland’s recent performances. Nevertheless, against Portugal (tonight) and our old friends Armenia on Tuesday, we have the chance to make a statement that up to this point has seemed beyond us.

Our record against Portugal, especially away, is far from impressive yet we have drawn three and lost once in the four other World Cup qualifiers we have played against the Portuguese down the years.

Our last game out, against Armenia, would not fill you with much confidence but then again, Ireland’s second-half performance against Hungary was pretty decent in comparison. Like many mid to lower tier nations in the Fifa rankings, Ireland seems to have the talent (some may say flaw) that see us play to the level of the opposition facing us. So just after playing an impressive comeback against the Magyars in Dublin, we went out to Armenia to face the comparative minnows in the Caucuses with a degree of confidence. Yet we left Yerevan with our tails between our legs after falling to a side that on paper we should have cleared the floor with.

Our non-existent midfield could not connect with a starved attack, while our vaunted defence were caught flat against passes straight through the middle when they attempt to push up the field.

Great low expectations

It’s like, the greater the expectation the poorer we perform. If that is the case, we can hope that our struggling lads will give the 2016 European champions a bit of a test this time out at least.

Under pressure Irish boss Heimir Hallgrímsson will certainly hope this is the case and it will be interesting to see if his team are ready to fight for their manager and claim some face-saving results for the remainder of this World Cup qualifying campaign.

In that respect, the return of Troy Parrott and a couple of veteran players who have experienced better times with Ireland will be a boost to the task facing the Icelandic coach.

Parrott, unfortunately, missed out on the opening games for Ireland due to a knee injury, which was disappointing as he has been on fire with his Dutch side AZ Alkmaar since he moved there in 2024, scoring 17 goals in his 33 games with the side.

The return of Seamus Coleman after long-term injury may not seem crucial as the Donegal man is now pushing 37. But his talismanic influence over the years with both Everton and Ireland should not be overestimated. The other veteran returning to the squad is Cork’s John Egan, who has yet to feature in a Hallgrímsson team due to a run of injuries and unfortunate relegations with is recent clubs. However, Egan has always been one of those players that has often performed better in Ireland’s green than with his clubs. He certainly provides a defensive option, especially in the light of how poorly our backline fared against Armenia. It should also be recalled that Egan is the only Irish player to score away against the Portuguese in the past 25 years.

Putting it up to Portugal

That game in Faro, back in 2021 will be remembered as one of those fighting efforts I referred to earlier, when we put in a performance well beyond expectations. That match saw Ireland take the lead from an Egan headed goal off an Irish corner 20 minutes after, the then 19-year-old, Gavin Bazunu saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo.

A series of Bazunu saves and some excellent well-timed tackles from Coleman, Egan, and Matt Doherty frustrated Portugal until the 89th minute, when again that guy Ronaldo leaped like a gazelle in the box to head home the equaliser from a ridiculous range and height. And with 96 minutes on the clock (one minute over the stated added time, just saying), CR7 produced a carbon copy header that curled around Bazunu’s despairing lunge to win the full points and to set them on their way to qualifying for the World Cup.

It must also be remembered that we did well to hold Portugal to a 0-0 draw in the return leg in Dublin two months after, in what was probably the best run of performances if maybe not results under the then manager Stephen Kenny.

Hallgrímsson can only hope that his current set of Irish players can find the same resolve and fight against the current set of Portuguese players that still contain Ronaldo. A good performance tonight would be a refreshing change at least after the dismal display in Yerevan.