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12th October 2025
10:20am BST
Another stellar performance against a top nation, without actually yielding a positive result, seems an all too familiar trend with Ireland over the past few years.
We saw it during the last World Cup qualifying group stage, when Ireland only lost to Portugal 2-1 after two late Ronaldo goals, while the side also suffered narrow defeats to the Dutch and France in Euro 2024 qualifying.
However, littered among these games have been shocking performances, which has seen Ireland lose to Luxembourg, lose twice to Armenia, draw with Azerbaijan, and barely bear Gibraltar.
After yesterday's game, Seamus Coleman alluded to worrying this Irish trait.
He said: "We came here, we wanted to put a bit of pride in the shirt, a bit of what I see Ireland to be, hard to beat, and everyone fighting like you wouldn't believe to get back into shape.
"I do think as a group we find it easier against the bigger nations, which shouldn't be the case."
Following the defeat in Lisbon, Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson lamented fatigue in Ireland's play.
He said: "At the end of the first half, we saw similar situations happen. Once you get tired, you give a little bit more time for the player on the ball. There's so much quality in this Portuguese team.
"If they have time on the ball, they can find the perfect pass and connect it with a perfect run. That is what happened in this extra time minutes.
"Sometimes in possession, we were too tired to find the best pass. And that's something we need to improve. That was maybe the area that we should have done better.
"When in possession, we lost it sometimes too quickly and lost energy defending again."
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