Caoimhín Kelleher's penalty heroics against Ronaldo not enough for Ireland in Portugal

Portugal 1 Republic of Ireland 0 

A heroic defensive performance by the Republic of Ireland ended with nothing as Ruben Neves got an injury-time winner for Portugal in World Cup qualifying at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.

There was a glimmer of hope of a famous result away from home, especially when Cork’s own Caoimhin Kelleher stepped up and stopped a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty with his legs in the 75th minute.

Up until that point, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s players were deep in their in box in a tight 3-5-1-1 formation that had Youghal native Jake O’Brien operating on the right side of a back three.

He was part of a team that set out to limit space in front of the penalty area while forcing the home side wide.

There was an element of luck to all of this, like when a Ronaldo shot rebounded off the post to Bernardo Silva for a tame effort that went wide in the 17th minute.

This was symbiotic of a game fought in bursts and managed moments, with Ireland doing most of the running.

It looked like Portugal finally got through in the 40th minute when a corner was turned towards goal, but Kelleher was in the right position to claw the ball away.

Ireland, by comparison, only got forward once and Ogbene kicked this over the bar as the clock ticked towards half time.

The game restarted with a renewed advance by Portugal with Neves and Vitinha trying their luck from distance, and each effort was cooly stopped by Kelleher in the lead up to the hour mark.

That was a milestone as the game was still scoreless, despite the home side dominating almost every statistic.

Every so often Ireland went forwards, like when Ogbene delivered a deep cross in the 70th minute, the problem was getting the ball to a white jersey and testing Diogo Costa.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo saw another shot go wide while Kelleher was booked for time-wasting as he tried to slow the game down.

The pair then faced off, after the referee ruled that an attempt from Francisco Trincão hit the hand of Dara O’Shea. The five-time Champions League winner stepped up to take the penalty and his effort was stopped by Kelleher.

This raised the question of a point on the road and maybe the result that would kickstart the campaign after the horrific defeat in Armenia last September.

Things were bubbling with that, a feeling taken to a new level by the introductions of Troy Parrott and Mikey Johnston.

Instead of something special, there was heartbreak as the Neves got in to score in the first minute of injury time.

PORTUGAL: Diogo Costa; Diogo Dalot, Ruben Dias, Goncalo Inacio, Nuno Mendes; Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Neves, Vitinha; Bernardo Silva, Pedro Neto, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Subs: Renato Veiga for Inacio (HT); Rafael Leao for Neto (62), Nelson Semedo for Vitinha (62), Francisco Trincao for Dalot (62), Gonçalo Ramos for Fernandes (85).

IRELAND: Caoimhín Kelleher; Seamus Coleman, Nathan Collins (capt), Jake O'Brien, Dara O'Shea, Ryan Manning; Jayson Molumby, Josh Cullen, Festy Ebosele, Chiedozie Ogbene; Evan Ferguson.

Subs: Mikey Johnston for Ebosele (64); Troy Parrott for Ferguson (78), Will Smallbone for Ogbene (78), John Egan for Coleman (85).

Referee: Ivan Kružliak (Slovakia)