Ireland slip to 2-0 defeat in Greece

Caoimhin Kelleher went from hero to villain as the Republic of Ireland slipped to a 2-0 Nations League defeat in Greece.

The Liverpool keeper, who had made three fine first-half saves before being beaten by Tasos Bakasetas’ deflected 48th-minute shot, gifted the ball to substitute Petros Mantalos in stoppage time to allow him to seal the win.

Victory maintained the Greeks’ 100 per cent start to the competition and kept them three points ahead of England at the top of League B Group 2.

If the result was ultimately decided by a stroke of good fortune and an error, the win – a fourth over the Irish inside 16 months – was no more than Greece, still revelling in their 2-1 victory over England, deserved on a night when they dominated for long periods.

Ireland, who ran out looking for back-to-back competitive wins for the first time since March 2019 following their success in Finland on Thursday evening, defended stoutly for much of a hard-fought contest, but were eventually undone in front of a partisan crowd of 30,253.

On an emotional night, the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium fell silent ahead of kick-off as both teams paid tribute to Greece defender George Baldock following his death at the age of 31.

Once the game was under way, the first chance fell to Ireland with just four minutes gone when the ball broke to Evan Ferguson off Lazaros Rota, but the striker was unable to hit the target under pressure from the defender as he attempted to make amends.

However, Kelleher, who had earlier seen a Bakasetas shot deflected just wide, had to be at his best to palm away Giorgos Masouras’ stinging 11th-minute volley after defender Liam Scales had blocked Vangelis Pavlidis’ initial attempt.

Masouras failed to test Kelleher with a tame