Armenia v Republic of Ireland - Tuesday, 9 September 2025 - 2026 World Cup Qualifier

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

But sadly our domestic clubs are incapable of producing the standard of players we require so we have no option but to export them. They play in Ireland, then they go abroad and it takes 18 months minimum for them to get up anywhere near the required standard. Our clubs have no money to improve and football will never be a government priority in a western first world nation.

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I disagree, the players can and are produced, but many see the pathway to career development in lower English leagues and Scotland. Its very obvious for decades that the development of LoI is key to the international teams development. Player retention is becoming more and more important for LoI in terms of supporting our international side, we will lose the best but we can retai the rest and change the mindset that unless you leave LoI you wont be picked for Ireland. Our issue tonight seemed to be an inability to build a team, not necessarily fitting players that happen to play at higher ranked clubs in to some cobbled together system. Its like because we have a bunch of EPL defenders we need to play them. In terms of integrating LoI based players im not necessarily talking now, but it should be part of the development of the game - build the league build the player pool and the international side.

Heimir Hallgrímsson defiant in the post match interview, tough to watch this guy.

Haha he got asked about bringing a shrink in to coach the team. Jesus wept.

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Originally Posted by Colbert Report

Heimir Hallgrímsson defiant in the post match interview, tough to watch this guy.

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You must’ve watched a different interview. He was hardly defiant.

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

I disagree, the players can and are produced, but many see the pathway to career development in lower English leagues and Scotland. Its very obvious for decades that the development of LoI is key to the international teams development. Player retention is becoming more and more important for LoI in terms of supporting our international side, we will lose the best but we can retai the rest and change the mindset that unless you leave LoI you wont be picked for Ireland. Our issue tonight seemed to be an inability to build a team, not necessarily fitting players that happen to play at higher ranked clubs in to some cobbled together system. Its like because we have a bunch of EPL defenders we need to play them. In terms of integrating LoI based players im not necessarily talking now, but it should be part of the development of the game - build the league build the player pool and the international side.

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But they're not though. Who was the last player to leave the league of Ireland and walk straight into a starting 11 anywhere in the top two divisions in England or a team of equivalent strength further afield? Daryl Horgan 10 years ago maybe. And let's face it he was nowhere near good enough at international level.

We're in an awful mess, but there's no point being delusional or using the situation to push agendas that aren't grounded in reality either.

If these players had come through a system where they were properly coached they'd be able to play quick five and 10 yard passes consistently and open up defenses like Armenia no problem. But they can't because of crap systems and crap coaching since they were kids.

That's why we only produce goalkeepers, centre backs and centre forwards. Because in Ireland we can't even coach our kids to competently pass the ball.

Outfought, outrun, outplayed and utterly humiliated by a team who showed they care about representing their country. I don't expect Ireland to be the best but I do expect players to run, chase,throw their bodies on the line and today we had people jogging, half hearted tackles and hiding.

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Originally Posted by Colbert Report

Haha he got asked about bringing a shrink in to coach the team. Jesus wept.

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One of the things I look forward to is an Irish manager putting Tony O’Donoghue in his box.

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Originally Posted by Colbert Report

Heimir Hallgrímsson defiant in the post match interview, tough to watch this guy.

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Yeah Im just glad it wasnt watching Stephen Kenny having to deal with this post match interview- that would actually be tough to watch!!

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

I disagree, the players can and are produced, but many see the pathway to career development in lower English leagues and Scotland. Its very obvious for decades that the development of LoI is key to the international teams development. Player retention is becoming more and more important for LoI in terms of supporting our international side, we will lose the best but we can retai the rest and change the mindset that unless you leave LoI you wont be picked for Ireland. Our issue tonight seemed to be an inability to build a team, not necessarily fitting players that happen to play at higher ranked clubs in to some cobbled together system. Its like because we have a bunch of EPL defenders we need to play them. In terms of integrating LoI based players im not necessarily talking now, but it should be part of the development of the game - build the league build the player pool and the international side.

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Yeah the English leagues are grinding up our players and spitting them out.

Players need to stay in Ireland longer (did Roy Keane no harm), and if they go overseas, go somewhere where they can play football and develop. O'Brien to France, Parrott to Holland. They went to selling clubs overseas, it's in their interests to develop the players so they can sell them on. The teams in England have so much money that they don't care what happens to the players - it's hunger games. In the past Irish players could get a look in in the English teams and develop there, but that's not the case anymore.

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Originally Posted by brine3

Yeah the English leagues are grinding up our players and spitting them out.

Players need to stay in Ireland longer (did Roy Keane no harm), and if they go overseas, go somewhere where they can play football and develop. O'Brien to France, Parrott to Holland. They went to selling clubs overseas, it's in their interests to develop the players so they can sell them on. The teams in England have so much money that they don't care what happens to the players - it's hunger games. In the past Irish players could get a look in in the English teams and develop there, but that's not the case anymore.

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Actually what's happening is the overseas clubs are picking up our players and are seeing that 95% of them are either tall, strong, fast, have a lot of stamina or can jump high in the air - or some combination of the above. But they have little or no technical ability and it's too late to fix that by the time they go overseas. So they just make what they can out of them and sell them on or send them home.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

But they're not though. Who was the last player to leave the league of Ireland and walk straight into a starting 11 anywhere in the top two divisions in England or a team of equivalent strength further afield? Daryl Horgan 10 years ago maybe. And let's face it he was nowhere near good enough at international level.

We're in an awful mess, but there's no point being delusional or using the situation to push agendas that aren't grounded in reality either.

If these players had come through a system where they were properly coached they'd be able to play quick five and 10 yard passes consistently and open up defenses like Armenia no problem. But they can't because of crap systems and crap coaching since they were kids.

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Evan Ferguson was damn close from leaving Bohs to playing for Brighton in the EPL at 18. I did say that I wasnt focusing on right now, its something that needs to evolve and not that I think that right now LoI players should be selected. We dont know how players will ultimately develop and some clubs will be harder to break in to the first team but Bazunu is another, Melia is potentially one though getting in to Spurs 1sts is a tough one. Lads are getting some games in Italy even if not regulars or loaned and getting game time. There is no doubt that kids coming through LoI are technically better now than in past eras and that needs to be built on. Honohon and Noonan could fast track, Ozhianvuna can, Leonard has a great chance of making a quick impact at a young age. Keogh also. Its less casting the net wide by English clubs, cheap in a scattergun manner and hope for a gem, significant transfer fees being involved mean its less hit and hope. We need this and additional investment in the league. How many Armenians were domestic players and they battered our exclusively foreign based players.

The report that came out likened our best club facilities with the 5th tier of the Belgian League. There is no real surprise here. I'm going to admit I still have a hangover from 2016 when it comes to hoping we'll do well. That's gone after tonight.

I don't blame HH. Most people were approving of the team selection before kick off. His players failed him completely tonight and we didn't respect Armenia anywhere near as much as we should have. No heart and no leadership.

100% Collins needs to be stripped of the captaincy.

as bad as anything i've seen. only Ferguson and Kelleher come out with any credit, maybe Idah.

2s and 3s out of ten for the rest, never got going at all and most shockingly didn't look too fussed about it.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Actually what's happening is the overseas clubs are picking up our players and are seeing that 95% of them are either tall, strong, fast, have a lot of stamina or can jump high in the air - or some combination of the above. But they have little or no technical ability and it's too late to fix that by the time they go overseas. So they just make what they can out of them and sell them on or send them home.

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Can you back this up or is it opinion? Watching Vinny Leonard, the last thing Id be saying is that he lacked technical ability and can do the other stuff. If anything going to say a L2 English side and they will kick and coach technique out of them in favour of physicality. If our kids get senior experience at home and then get spotted and have a chance to go to Germany, Italy, France as has been the actual case, it isnt that they are fast and strong, they can get them at home without the hassle of scouting abroad.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

But they're not though. Who was the last player to leave the league of Ireland and walk straight into a starting 11 anywhere in the top two divisions in England or a team of equivalent strength further afield? Daryl Horgan 10 years ago maybe. And let's face it he was nowhere near good enough at international level.

We're in an awful mess, but there's no point being delusional or using the situation to push agendas that aren't grounded in reality either.

If these players had come through a system where they were properly coached they'd be able to play quick five and 10 yard passes consistently and open up defenses like Armenia no problem. But they can't because of crap systems and crap coaching since they were kids.

That's why we only produce goalkeepers, centre backs and centre forwards. Because in Ireland we can't even coach our kids to competently pass the ball.

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As Nesta closes with, the timing isn't now but the domestic league needs to be part of the solution. Its won't blunt things, it will just add to our options and give us a little more autonomy over our footballing success.

But its a conversation for another day.

The biggest problem here is arguably that people, in a desperate situation, are chasing unicorns. The stats on coaching and contact hours in Ireland are absolutely shocking. They can't be fixed without tens of millions of Euros, if not more, being sunk into the game.

But the clubs don't have anything like that kind of money, the association is broke and the government (correctly) doesn't trust them. Even if they did it's hard to justify that kind of investment when hospitals are overcrowded and there aren't enough houses for people to live in.

Unless someone comes up with the cash we can forget about building anything from the ground up, it's not happening and it's delusional to think otherwise. This should be the bit where I come in with what the actual solution is, but the sad reality is that there isn't one.

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

Can you back this up or is it opinion? Watching Vinny Leonard, the last thing Id be saying is that he lacked technical ability and can do the other stuff. If anything going to say a L2 English side and they will kick and coach technique out of them in favour of physicality. If our kids get senior experience at home and then get spotted and have a chance to go to Germany, Italy, France as has been the actual case, it isnt that they are fast and strong, they can get them at home without the hassle of scouting abroad.

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I can back it up with my personal experiences across two countries - Ireland and Scotland. The difference in what I have seen across both is staggering, in terms of the facilities they have and the opportunities that are available to young players, but also the way their players are coached from aged 3 upwards.

And that's Scotland, who aren't even that good themselves. But they can at least develop a few players that can pass the ball.

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Originally Posted by rebelmusic

The report that came out likened our best club facilities with the 5th tier of the Belgian League. There is no real surprise here. I'm going to admit I still have a hangover from 2016 when it comes to hoping we'll do well. That's gone after tonight.

I don't blame HH. Most people were approving of the team selection before kick off. His players failed him completely tonight and we didn't respect Armenia anywhere near as much as we should have. No heart and no leadership.

100% Collins needs to be stripped of the captaincy.

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While greyhound racing has recieved almost €400m over 15 years (i think). Again Im not calling for the current setup to standup, but that we have to look very differently at things, lots of qualified coaches, and development of academies to go with underage natioal leagues and elite player programmes. Long term project properly funded by Dept of Sport. Football is an industry that could be a net earner, definitely more than subsidising dog racing annually. Have a look at Icelandic efforts.

I think the lack of technically ability should be irrelevant when it comes to a game like today.

While it wasnt so much the defeat (it was that too though), it was the nature of the defeat that is so unacceptable. The players shoulder a lot of the blame for it. There isn't even one real leader among them really. Armenia made a mockery of us at times, they very much took the p*ss out of us during the last 20-25 mins. And we had no answer.

Bringing Phillips on shows the foolishness of leaving Molumby out of the squad completely. After you start 3 of your CMs, who do you have left if it doesn't work (it didn't)? Phillips looked like a LSL player who won some sort of competition. Scales came on for Manning when O'Shea, at least to my eyes, looked completely gassed. Azaz stayed on way too long. Ogbene stunk the place out. The starting XI was incohesive and then the h/t changes and 2nd half subs simply didn't work. That's on HH.

Overall, a very sad state of affairs and hard to see a way forward that will actually make much of a difference. Today was embarrassing; tomorrow is depressing.