Although a draw at home to Hungary in their opening qualifier was not the ideal result, Ireland came into this game with a degree of momentum, having come from 2-0 down to salvage what could prove to be a crucial point.
The visitors came agonisingly close to taking the lead with just four minutes on the clock, too, when Armenia goalkeeper Ognjen Čančarević rushed off his line to try and smother the ball.
He fumbled it, allowing Evan Ferguson to pick it up before chipping over the keeper, but defender Erik Piloyan got back just in time to head clear on the goal line.
Making his first WCQ start, Jack Taylor also went close to giving Ireland the lead on the half-hour mark when his near-post effort was saved by the legs of Čančarević.
After that, the home side began to grow into the contest, and they ought to have gone ahead 10 minutes before HT when Grant-Leon Ranos’ effort from inside the area came back off the crossbar.
However, in the final minute of first-half normal time, Armenia were awarded a penalty after Tigran Barseghyan was adjudged to have been fouled by Nathan Collins, and Eduard Spertsyan converted from the spot to give the home side a HT advantage.
Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson made two changes at the break, with Kasey McAteer and Adam Idah replacing Chiedozie Ogbene and Jack Taylor, respectively, but just six minutes after the restart, the Boys in Green found themselves two goals behind when Ranos rolled into an empty net from a matter of yards out to finish off a clever Armenia move.
That goal could have knocked the stuffing out of Ireland, but they were able to halve the deficit just six minutes later as Idah’s through ball found its way through to Ferguson, who curled his right-footed effort past Čančarević to keep the visitors’ hopes alive.
Both teams had opportunities in the closing stages, with substitute Artur Serobyan having a goal ruled out for offside, but the hosts did enough to clinch what could prove to be a crucial three points as they move up to second in Group F for the time being.
Ireland, meanwhile, sit at the bottom after two matches and need to recover quickly if they are to keep their hopes of qualification alive.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Eduard Spertsyan (Armenia)
