Some lacklustre form in the infancy of this WCQ campaign has left Ireland playing catch up in their quest to reach a first World Cup finals since 2002.
A gutsy performance away to Portugal ultimately ended in defeat on Saturday evening, and after having their backs to the wall for almost 90 minutes in Lisbon, it seemed the Irish had picked up where they left off.
A timid approach in the opening stages was almost punished inside the opening 15 minutes by Eduard Spertsyan, who netted in the reverse fixture, but this time his low left-footed drive from the edge of the area was gathered by Caoimhin Kelleher.
The Aviva stadium was rather flat throughout the first half considering this was essentially a must win game for Ireland.
The mood inside the ground was almost dashed even further shortly before the break when Kamo Hovhannisyan’s marauding run down the right ended with him planting a perfect cross onto the left boot of the unmarked Spertsyan, but fortunately for the hosts his volley whistled narrowly wide of the post.
Boos rang out as the HT whistle sounded in Dublin, and the hosts knew they had 45 minutes to essentially save their World Cup hopes.
They were handed an unlikely boost within 10 minutes of the restart, when a moment of madness from Tigran Barseghyan saw him plant a headbutt onto the nose of Finn Azaz and receive his marching orders.
The initiative was firmly with the hosts at that point, and within minutes of gaining a man advantage the Irish ought to have nosed ahead.
Nathan Collins ghosted in around the back to head Azaz’s delivery goalwards, but a stunning one-handed save from Henri Avagyan tipped his looping header onto the bar.
Azaz was having a growing influence on the game and he freed Evan Ferguson, whose effort was tipped around the post by Avagyan.
That was only a temporary reprieve for Armenia, whose resistance was broken from the resulting corner, as Ferguson steered home Will Smallbone’s pinpoint delivery following a well-worked short corner..
With Group F now tightly contested for second spot, it was perhaps a little surprising that Ireland didn’t keep their foot to the floor to try and boost their goal difference.
They could certainly have made the closing stages a little more comfortable had substitute Adam Idah not fired straight at Avagyan from six yards out, but fortunately his miss didn’t prove costly as Ireland held on to secure the three points they needed to move firmly into the race for second place.
It’s been quite the October break for Armenia, who started it in second, and end it in fourth.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Will Smallbone (Republic of Ireland)