Caoimhin Kelleher went from hero to villain because the Republic of Eire slipped to a 2-0 Nations League defeat in Greece.
The Liverpool keeper, who had made three positive first-half saves earlier than being crushed by Tasos Bakasetas’ deflected Forty eighth-minute shot, gifted the ball to substitute Petros Mantalos in stoppage time to permit him to seal the win.
Victory maintained the Greeks’ 100 per cent begin to the competitors and stored them three factors forward of England on the prime of League B Group 2.
If the outcome was in the end determined by a stroke of fine fortune and an error, the win – a fourth over the Irish inside 16 months – was not more than Greece, nonetheless revelling of their 2-1 victory over England, deserved on an evening once they dominated for lengthy durations.
Eire, who ran out searching for back-to-back aggressive wins for the primary time since March 2019 following their success in Finland on Thursday night, defended stoutly for a lot of a hard-fought contest, however had been finally undone in entrance of a partisan crowd of 30,253.
On an emotional evening, the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium fell silent forward of kick-off as each groups paid tribute to Greece defender George Baldock following his loss of life on the age of 31.
As soon as the sport was below approach, the primary probability fell to Eire with simply 4 minutes gone when the ball broke to Evan Ferguson off Lazaros Rota, however the striker was unable to hit the goal below stress from the defender as he tried to make amends.
Nevertheless, Kelleher, who had earlier seen a Bakasetas shot deflected simply broad, needed to be at his finest to palm away Giorgos Masouras’ stinging Eleventh-minute volley after defender Liam Scales had blocked Vangelis Pavlidis’ preliminary try.
Masouras failed to check Kelleher with a tame header from a Christos Tzolis cross however the Liverpool keeper denied Bakasetas with a foot after which claimed Pavlidis’ follow-up.
Nathan Collins blocked one other Pavlidis shot after Tzolis had cleverly flicked the ball into his path with Eire coming below intense stress however remaining stubbornly resilient.
Entrance two Ferguson and Troy Parrott had been seeing little of the ball however the latter did briefly trigger panic for Konstantinos Mavropanos when he blocked his tried clearance to ship the ball in the direction of objective, though keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos was readily available to spare the defender’s blushes.
In contrast, Kelleher’s objective was repeatedly below menace and he needed to save with a foot as soon as once more, this time to stop Dimitris Giannoulis from profiting from Tzolis’ Twenty ninth-minute cross.
Bakasetas examined Kelleher with a skidding Forty seventh-minute effort because the Greeks returned from the break in decided temper, however he was to not be denied and it was he who broke the impasse seconds later when his shot from the sting of the field clipped Scales and flew into the web.
Eire discovered themselves below the cosh with Greece sensing a possibility to complete the sport off and Tzolis scuffed broad from a promising place.
Eire head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson moved to refresh his embattled aspect when he despatched on Festy Ebosele and debutant Jack Taylor for Chiedozie Ogbene and Ferguson.
Vlachodimos needed to tip a 69th-minute Taylor header over amid a flurry of exercise across the house penalty space and the Ipswich man noticed appeals for a late penalty waved away after his shot appeared to hit the arm of Mavropanos on its approach in the direction of objective.
However the contest was over when Kelleher introduced the ball to Mantalos, who rounded him earlier than firing into the empty internet.
Cullen: Disappointing to concede so rapidly after half-time
Republic of Eire midfielder Josh Cullen informed RTE:
“After them scoring so early in the second half, from that point on I thought we were the team that looked more likely [to score] and I thought we got more control in the game.
“I do not assume the primary half was adequate from us, however we tweaked issues at half-time and it is simply disappointing to concede so rapidly after half-time. I feel the boys confirmed nice braveness and bravado to return again and elevate the efficiency once more.
“Ultimately it wasn’t quite enough in the end.”
