Penalty heartbreak for Ireland against Czechia in World Cup qualifier playoff

Czechia 2 Ireland 2 (Czechia win 4-3 on penalties)

The World Cup journey came to an end with a shootout defeat to Czechia in Prague.

Jan Kilment grabbed the winner after Alan Browne and Finn Azaz missed to send the hosts through to play Denmark in the final qualifying round.

The Boys in Green led 2-0 through a Troy Parrott penalty and an own goal from Matej Kovar before the home side came back with Patrik Schick and Ladislav Krejčí turning things around. Kelleher did save one to deny Mojmir Chytil, but it wasn’t enough in Prague.

That brought a shuddering halt to the journey that came alive over four days in November with successive victories over Portugal and Hungary.

Heimir Hallgrimsson kept the template by using a 3-4-2-1 formation with Ryan Manning and Seamus Coleman operating as the wing-backs and Parrott up top as the lone striker.

The defence remained the same from that famous night in Hungary with Jake O’Brien on the right side of a back three alongside Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea. Chiedozie Ogbene and working alongside Azaz while Parrott led the line.

Their reward came in the form of a dream start beginning with Ogbene digging in and winning Ireland a corner in just the third minute. The set-piece went out for a Collins strike that was deflected onto the crossbar. With it came a moment of possibility and it was followed by a clip on the defender inside the area during Ireland’s next advance.

Czechia went up the pitch and stung the palms of Kelleher, just before a VAR check was called for. The resulting penalty was put away by Parrott, despite Kovar diving the right way, and the Boys in Green took the lead in just the 19th minute.

It was the stuff of dreams as the home side struggled to get out of their own half, and things were about to get better as Ireland managed to win their third corner in the 23rd minute. Ryan Manning’s in-swinging ball headed down by Dara O’Shea to Vladimír Coufal. The defender turned it towards Kovar, who knocked it over the line for an own goal.

Then came a reality check, in the form of a Czechia penalty won from a Manning foul inside the area. Schick made no mistake when facing Kelleher in the 27th minute, making it 2-1 midway through the first half.

Things slowed down before the break and things restarted with a stern hand from Kelleher getting to a Ladislav Krejčí header.

Czechia continued to pile on the pressure, and with this came a Lukas Provod cross and a Ladislav Krejčí header at the near post in the 86th minute.

Neither side could be separated with the time that remained. It came down to penalties and the misses, and the end of a dream as Kilment fired Czechia into the next round.

CZECHIA: Matej Kovar; Vladimír Coufal, Tomas Holes, Robin Hranac, Ladislav Krejčí, David Jurasek; Lukas Provod, Vladimir Darida; Patrik Schick, Pavel Sulc; Tomas Chory.

Subs: Tomas Soucek for Darida (HT); Stepan Chaloupek for Holes (HT), Mojmir Sadilek for Jurasek (82), Michal Sadilek for Jurasek (82), Adam Karabec for Coulfal (82), Jan Kilment for Sulc (103).

IRELAND: Caoímhín Kelleher; Jake O'Brien, Nathan Collins, Dara O'Shea, Seamus Coleman; Jack Taylor, Jayson Molumby, Ryan Manning; Finn Azaz, Chiedozie Ogbene; Troy Parrott.

Subs: Robbie Brady for Taylor (68); Alan Browne for Manning (68), Jimmy Dunne for Coleman (96), Adam Idah for Ogbene (96), Sammie Szmodics for Molumby (115), Harvey Vale for Szmodics (inj).

Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)