Nowhere for Heimir Hallgrimsson to hide as Ireland legends tear into Armenia defeat

Ireland legends Richard Dunne, Damian Delaney and Shay Given have criticised Ireland and their manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson, after their shock defeat to Armenia.

Ireland were second best from start to finish, and their World Cup hopes are hanging by a thread. The manager of the Boys in Green accepted responsibility for the shocking display in which they were favourites to win before kick-off.

Dunne and Delaney featured on Virgin Media’s coverage of the game, while Given was on RTÉ as the trio went through the autopsy of another embarrassing defeat for Ireland.

Echoing the thoughts of Ireland fans who took to social media expressing their anger and frustration, the former Irish internationals called out both Hallgrimsson and his players, looking back on a night to forget.

Ireland are in ‘a bad situation’

Dunne was incredibly animated after the match, with his comments resonating with many Irish fans.

The legendary defender criticised the fact that Ireland’s star striker Evan Ferguson despite scoring, was given virtually no service: “I think one of the problems when you look at the team, when you look at Evan Ferguson up front, so you’ve got one of the best young strikers in Europe, he’s in great form with his team, I think he received two passes to his feet today. The rest of them was up around his neck or in behind.”

Dunne would go on to highlight his belief that this Ireland side had no team cohesion: “The two centre midfielders aren’t good enough to get on the ball in small areas and tight little areas, and when they do get on it, they inevitably play sideways or backwards or a long hopeful ball over the top. So you’ve got a massively disjointed team that nobody sort of fits in where they’re being asked to play or the roles they’re being asked to do.”

The team is in a bad situation at the moment. I thought they were signs of improvement in the second-half against Hungary the other night, but tonight is as bad as it’s been.”

This is the second time we’ve lost to Armenia; there have been other results, and there has never been a reaction.

This group has allowed it for a long time now. We are so easy to play against for the last five or six years. There is no tackling in midfield.”

“Tonight is as bad as it's been.”

Richard Dunne on the current situation after the defeat to Armenia. pic.twitter.com/BhnME8zkuG

— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) September 9, 2025

Ireland’s heart and fight called into question

Dunne highlighted that he believes that heart and fight is missing in this Ireland and went on to say: ” That is a recurring theme with this team, they don’t have the passion or the mettle within them to go and stand up for themselves.

“Whatever the manager says, whatever the manager tells you to do, you know that the least you can do is give 100 per cent…

“They can’t react to any adversity; it’s always the same thing. You don’t see anything tonight where you go ‘at least they tried, they gave everything.

“They’re used to losing. They don’t know how to get results or win games. To get results, you have to run that extra yard and make a tackle, make contact with the opposition. We just don’t do it.

“To go from our forward line to our defensive line, it’s so easy. It’s not just tonight, it’s been like that for ages.”

Ireland will have to be better somehow ahead of their next qualifying away game against Portugal, a game in which they’ll be heavy underdogs with Irish bookmakers; a loss there would make World Cup qualification impossible.

Damien Delaney takes issue with Heimir Hallgrimsson’s tactical approach

“We were beaten out the gate in every department.”

Damien Delaney on a very disappointing night for Ireland. pic.twitter.com/RiLNeUGfwV

— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) September 9, 2025

Defender Delaney thought Ireland were beaten in all areas over the pitch but singled out the midfield and the cohesion between the defence and attack as reasons why Ireland were so poor: “We were beaten out of the gate in every department, in possession, out of possession, tactically, physically, mentally. Every department you can think of, we were beaten out of the gate.

“We didn’t show up tonight at all. We looked so tired. The most damning indictment I can give you is that I wasn’t sure what we were trying to do…

“The gaps between the back four, midfield, and front players – I couldn’t believe how big they were. The back four at no point squeezed up and then allowed the midfield players to squeeze on.

“We played a 4-4-2. Our midfield players aren’t physical enough, aren’t mobile enough, they can’t cover the ground.”

Ireland performance leaves Shay Given lost for words

Ireland’s former iconic goalkeeper was part of the coverage on RTÉ and looked shellshocked reflecting on the match and called the Ireland manager’s second tactics into question:”I’m really lost for words, to be honest. We felt before the game it was a must-win game. I don’t think anybody had foreseen, in this room or up and down the country, that we’d lose to Armenia, 105th in the world rankings.

“So what do you say? I don’t know.

“I think the substitutions at half-time…we felt it was worse tactically in the second-half, I felt the gaps in midfield were huge.”

“2-1 to Armenia flattered us, and that’s putting it politely. The chances they created, the disallowed goal towards the end, Kelleher being our man-of-the-match again in goals…I don’t know what to say,” Given continued.

.@No1shaygiven 'lost for words' and in a 'wee bit of shock' after Ireland's loss to Armenia, while Kevin Doyle felt the Armenians 'looked by far the better team'
📱https://t.co/7gKkCMKq66#ARMIRL #COYBIG #rtesport pic.twitter.com/BpYNIizeQF

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 9, 2025

“I’m in a wee bit of shock, to be honest. Just such a poor performance…probably one of the worst results in our history as a nation. You think about Luxembourg, Cyprus, the famous Macedonia, that’s where that Armenia result ranks. It’s a new low for the country.”