'We have made life difficult for ourselves' - Kenny admits team must do better after defeat

A very disappointed Stephen Kenny offered up no excuses for his side's unexpected defeat in Armenia and admits that his side have it all to do if they are to have a chance of winning their Nations League group.

In the absence of World Cup qualification and with Euro 2024 still a long way off, the Ireland manager has been targeting the League B group as an achievable goal for the 2022 calendar.

However, a 74th-minute strike by Styopa Mkrtchyan proved decisive at the Republican Stadium in Yerevan as the hosts served up a 1-0 shock defeat on the travelling Irish.

Ireland dominated large parts of the game in Armenia but only managed two half-chances on target, while they were guilty of spurning some better opportunities with players missing the target completely.

"It’s a very disappointing result, there’s no getting away from that," said Kenny, speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game.

"We’re very disappointed with ourselves to lose in Armenia, again to a goal from distance like that that, that was disappointing.

"We had some chances in the first half, last 20 minutes of the first half I thought we were starting to really get on top.

"We didn’t carry that into the start of the second half, they were a threat to us on the counter and we got punished. And we’re disappointed."

The Armenia goal came from a moment of magic from the attacking midfielder who beat Caoimhin Kelleher from distance, and the Liverpool goalkeeper, who was making his competitive debut for Ireland, could do little about the quality strike from 35 yards out.

But there was a lack of quality in the Irish attacking play and the team often appeared a touch sluggish with uncharacteristic mistakes disrupting the approach and affecting the tempo of the game.

And the manager