Two Celtic players were selected for Republic of Ireland duty this month for their World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and Armenia.
Liam Scales continued his usual trips to Ireland, while there was a first call for Celtic’s back-up striker, Johnny Kenny, but it was a journey to forget for all.
Ireland’s rescue job against Hungary over the weekend was a positive point, with former Bhoy Adam Idah coming off the bench and netting a stoppage-time equaliser.
But Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup took a major blow on Tuesday, as Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side suffered a shock defeat to lowly Armenia, with Scales coming off the bench and Kenny not being used again.
Liam Scales’ substitution for Ireland against Armenia
With less than ten minutes left on the clock, Hallgrímsson didn’t turn to his bench to bring on Kenny, because Ireland were heading towards suffering an embarrassing defeat.
Instead, he brought on Celtic centre-back Scales, and it’s a call that the Ireland supporters simply couldn’t understand and criticised.
The decision was so baffling that several Irish supporters on social media were pretty sarcastic in their responses to the substitution.
@ShaneOC89454934 with a sarcastic response to Scales coming on: ‘Just what we need. A 4th centre half and the one player with decent delivery took off.’
The sarcasm continues, as @NatedogIRE added: ‘Ah yes, that’s what we’ve been missing the whole time!”
@SM4280595 described Hallgrímsson’s call as ‘desperate’: ’10 mins left and bring on a defender. Desperate.’
@liamh2006 stated the obvious: ‘Bringing on a centre back in the business end of the game when we’re 2-1 down 👍.’
@dunta90 raised a question: ‘What kind of substitution was this?’
Another question was put to Hallgrímsson by @BerginSteven: ‘What is a centre half going to do when we need a goal???’
@JLFC34 wants a change: ‘Sack the lot.’
@Dub25Rub21062 didn’t hold back: ‘Chasing the game and HH bringing on a defender…… should have stuck to being a dentist.’
@declancfc67 saw the funny side to Ireland not updating Scales’ picture: ‘That picture of Scales is criminal, get that updated 😂😂😂.’
@RyanMcD66693751 hinted towards wanting Kenny to come on: ‘Bring on a left back instead of a striker when we’re trailing, yeah sounds mint that.’
@craigkiely123 could only laugh: ‘2-1 down to Armenia and this is the change you make 😂😂.’
Shay Given says Ireland’s defeat ‘one of the worst results in our history’
With Portugal up next for the Irish, and seemingly two of the easier games in the group out of the way and only one point on the board, then it’s not a good look for their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup.
Armenia are ranked 105th in world football, so it wasn’t a surprise that former Celtic man Shay Given sees this as, ‘one of the worst results’ in the nation’s history, as he told RTE.
“We felt, before the game, it was a must-win game,” said Given. “I don’t think anyone foresaw in this room and probably in every room up and down the country that we’d lose to Armenia, 105th in the FIFA world rankings.
“I think the substitutions at halftime, tactically, we felt it was worse in the second half. I felt the gaps in the midfield were huge. 2-1 to Armenia flattered us, and that’s putting it politely.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m a wee bit in shock, to be honest, it’s just such a poor performance and looking then, scrambling around, probably one of the worst results in our history as a nation.”
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