Kenny bemoans 'ridiculous ten minute period' against Armenia

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was left to bemoan a 'ridiculous ten minute period' as his side conspired to throw away a two-goal lead against Armenia, only to nick victory courtesy of a late Robbie Brady penalty.

Brady, making his first international start since March last year, converted a stoppage-time spot kick to snatch victory after Ireland very nearly threw the game away.

They looked to be cruising to just their second win of the Group 1 campaign as they entered the final 20 minutes leading 2-0 through goals from John Egan and Michael Obafemi.

However, goals from Artak Dashyan and Eduard Spertsyan silenced the locals before Brady's last-gasp intervention, following a VAR check, the aftermath of which saw both Hovhannes Hambardzumyan and Dashyan dismissed.

The win - just manager Stephen Kenny's fourth in 21 competitive fixtures - came as a relief on a night when defeat would have meant relegation

Speaking to RTÉ Sport afterwards, Kenny insisted that he was happy with Ireland’s performance aside from that second-half spell.

He said: "Overall there was a lot of good things. Michael Obafemi’s goal was terrific, John Egan scored again and we had a lot of chances against a team that get a lot of men behind the ball and defend with a real low block.

"I think that overall the players did really well tonight aside from that ridiculous ten minute period when we conceded two goals in two minutes, but we can make sure that doesn’t happen again.

"I’m not sure exactly how to feel but I know we played really well in the game and I was very pleased with how we played.

"But then we absolutely shot ourselves in the foot for a five minute period – two goals in two minutes – it was careless."

"We could have been 4-0 up at that