Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher and Ireland’s Nathan Collins (right) look dejected with team-mates following defeat in the World Cup qualifying match at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, Lisbon
Daniel McDonnell in Lisbon
Yesterday at 23:38
The feeling of desolation was all too familiar. Ireland’s World Cup campaign is replaying the greatest hits album of deflating disappointments.
We’ve already had the mixed emotions of a come from behind draw and a humbling at the hands of a minnow. In Lisbon, Heimir Hallgrimsson moved onto the valiant defeat to a superpower, the agony fuelled by a sense of injustice inspired by decisions that appeared to favour the bigger fish.