Portugal v Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 11 October 2025 - 2026 World Cup Qualifier

[Fixer82]

Hopefully Portugal are already qualified and head out on the **** before the game in Dublin.

Knowing how Ronaldo doesn’t look after his bid, this is a definite possibility

[elatedscum]

Heartbreaking stuff. A good battling performance. Gave 100% - ref was awful. You’d question a few of the subs - taking off Ebosele rather than Ogbene - taking off Coleman for Egan and moving O’Brien out of the centre with a handful of minutes left, even the change to put Smallbone there, it meant when we conceded we had almost no counter attacking threat compared to the start of the game. Obviously there was very little in the way of chances on our end but the ref was also an issue there, Ebosele and Ogbene were manhandled and didn’t get anything.

There were times where I felt our 11th man was too deep. Manning had one situation where he won the ball back really well near the edge of our box and he looked up and he was the furthest forward player. You’d almost have been as well with Idah starting for his physical attributes considering how deep Ferguson was dropping in.

I thought Kelleher, Coleman, Manning, O’Brien, Collins, Molumby and Ebosele had really good games.

[liamoo11]

Heartbreaking stuff. A good battling performance. Gave 100% - ref was awful. You’d question a few of the subs - taking off Ebosele rather than Ogbene - taking off Coleman for Egan and moving O’Brien out of the centre with a handful of minutes left, even the change to put Smallbone there, it meant when we conceded we had almost no counter attacking threat compared to the start of the game. Obviously there was very little in the way of chances on our end but the ref was also an issue there, Ebosele and Ogbene were manhandled and didn’t get anything.

There were times where I felt our 11th man was too deep. Manning had one situation where he won the ball back really well near the edge of our box and he looked up and he was the furthest forward player. You’d almost have been as well with Idah starting for his physical attributes considering how deep Ferguson was dropping in.

I thought Kelleher, Coleman, Manning, O’Brien, Collins, Molumby and Ebosele had really good games.

Ebosele was injured o think, he had gone off just beforehand with maybe a calf issue. He was excellent to be fair.

Agree starting female very little sense when you were going to not have any play. Idah woukd have been ideal and keep ferguson fresh for Tuesday where you will need a bit of invention to get a goal.

Will Coleman andanning have the athleticism to recover for Tuesday,? Hopes they were excellent going in both directions

Cullen suspended is a positive it ensures we bring freshness to midfield.

I wonder are we looking at a narrow 442 on Tuesday with mcateer and Johnson along with moulmby and smallbone with troy and ferguson up top and o brien Collins centre half with Manning and Coleman full backs. That gives you some freshness in the midfield/attack .

[Jd2793]

much better defensively but we hadnt a chance of note. no real improvement on our plucky 2-1 loss 4 years ago , could argue that was actually a better performance. at least kelleher obrien and collins (eventually) had good games. as others have said, HH subs were poor. new manager still needed.

[Fixer82]

Knowing how Ronaldo doesn’t look after his bid, this is a definite possibility

*his body

[Bottle of Tonic]

I've woken up this morning a lot more satisfied than I expected. That was a brilliant defensive performance. A sucker punch goal like that is always coming in that context but I don't think we could have done much more bar chancing a few more crosses/forward balls when in the final third. But that's not the fashion these days. Seemingly it's always better to turn around and pass back.

Most guys played well and I was calling for that type of set up so credit to the management.

I was in Armenia and to be honest I wasn't sure I was even going to watch the game last night. Never been so disillusioned with the team. So I'm taking last night as a big positive.

Going forward we need to stop going toe to toe with teams in terms of trying to play modern, fashionable football. Use last night as a defensive template and build from there.

[liamoo11]

much better defensively but we hadnt a chance of note. no real improvement on our plucky 2-1 loss 4 years ago , could argue that was actually a better performance. at least kelleher obrien and collins (eventually) had good games. as others have said, HH subs were poor. new manager still needed.

I don't think anything other than world cup qualification will save Hemir. Getting a playoff won't be enough because of Armenia.

[pineapple stu]

Coventry called up to replace the suspended Cullen

Tuesday is going to be a much different game to yesterday. I'd take defensive solidity to start - it was sorely absent in Yerevan - but we also need to be able to attack too, something we barely did yesterday

[elatedscum]

Personally think it’s very harsh on Jamie McGrath and that potentially has the ability to unlock something against a team like Armenia.

[ontheotherhand]

Yep. In fairness, deserve it. 30 shots to 1, and only that we were great defensively (and Portugal pedestrian in attack) they'd have made the the breakthrough earlier. But a 52nd minute winner doesn't hurt like a 91st minute one

And the other problem is this performance isn't really much help for Tuesday when we need to take the game to Armenia.

But lookout - HH has certainly redeemed himself somewhat, so let's take that

Somewhat is a stretch stu. The problems the manager is there to fix don't include performances against the stronger nations. We've been fine on that front for a long time. Kenny got a better result against Portugal.

We've all seen this movie before.

[pineapple stu]

I suppose in HH's defence, he picked up home and away wins against Finland and Bulgaria. Really his only blemish is the Armenian debacle (though you could count the Luxembourg friendly and the first half of Hungary if you wanted, one of which was a June friendly and one of which was turned around)

[ontheotherhand]

I suppose in HH's defence, he picked up home and away wins against Finland and Bulgaria. Really his only blemish is the Armenian debacle (though you could count the Luxembourg friendly and the first half of Hungary if you wanted, one of which was a June friendly and one of which was turned around)

Fair. He has some credit in the bank due to those results. I guess my point is that performances against the bigger teams sort of take care of themselves and it shouldn't garner HH much credit on its own. I always expect a good performance against the big teams. It's what happens next that usually bursts the bubble.

[pineapple stu]

Well true. They're almost completely separate as factors in a way. Putting ten men behind the ball against Portugal (who missed a permanent and an open goal) is no predictor at all of how Tuesday will go I think

If we will, I think he's doing ok overall, albeit with concerns around dropping players one month and starting them the next, and a downward trend in results

But if we don't win - and I can see it happening - then...

[passinginterest]

In hindsight, you’d have to question starting Ferguson again. Is it another case of playing a young player through injury when his and our best interests might have been to leave him to the bench? He looked like his mobility was very limited again and he was beaten in every physical battle (and probably no surprise if he’s carrying an ankle knock and can’t put 100% pressure on it). Considering Idah’s best ever game for Ireland was away to Portugal and given his additional pace and ability to run the channels maybe he should have played.