Who is popular today?

Andorra 1 Republic of Ireland 4
Troy Parrott ended 10 of the loneliest minutes Stephen Kenny is ever likely to experience in his life as a football manager.
Two goals from the Spurs striker in the space of three minutes reversed what was rapidly turning into the result of no return for Kenny.
Trailing 1-0 after Marc Vales’ free header, suddenly, from the depths of misery, Parrott offered the solution to an increasingly worrying absence of a prolific Irish goal scorer. The 19-year-old Dubliner was not expected to come through this summer but the 10 jersey appears to have a new resident.



Andorra celebrate after Marc Vales broke the deadlock. Photo: Eric Alonso/Getty Images


In a kinder world, Vales could be complimented for ghosting into the Ireland box to head home his goal six minutes after half-time. In reality, James McClean let the centre half, who earns a living in the second tier of Norwegian football, perhaps convinced the timing of the run would be offside.
It wasn’t, and Andorra were 1-0 up after 51 minutes.
Seconds later it so easily could have been 2-0 as careless passing by Matt Doherty and Conor Hourihane gave Ricardo Fernandez a clean shot that needed John Egan’s back to deflect it for a corner.
As the Irish players snapped at each other, Kenny looked haunted on the sideline.
His descent into Dante’s Inferno was delayed by Parrott’s diagonal run into the box before a neat finish to the bottom corner.
Parrott spurned a second goal seconds later to turn provider for Ronan Curtis but the Portsmouth forward somehow missed the target from two metres out.
The teenager from Dublin’s north inner city could have been spinning away to celebrate a hat-trick when heading his second off a delicate Hourihane delivery to make it 2-1.
Kenny was not long reacting to the situation by pulling the other front men, Curtis and James Collins, with Adam Idah and Daryl Horgan arriving. The changes worked a treat with Jason Knight tapping in a dangerous in-swinger by Horgan before returning the favour so Horgan could make it 4-1 off another bullet header.
What came before cannot be ignored.
Twenty one minutes into the 12th match of the Kenny’s tenure as Republic of Ireland manager, Josh Cullen looked up from his deep lying midfield slot before launching an utterly useless ball that ran out of steam 70 metres down field at the feet of Iker Álvarez.
The teenage goalkeeper, who is listed as playing for Villarreal ‘C’ team, could not believe how comfortable his second cap was going.
The pressing of an eager Andorra side had Kenny’s Ireland in all sorts of bother.
On Wednesday the manager spoke about his midfielders needing to get their heads up in order to play “quicker and earlier” passes into the three strikers he threw into this international cauldron high up in the Pyrenees.
Cullen’s smooth passing season in Anderlecht was held up as the example the others must follow. To be fair to his teammates, it is nigh on impossible to find a rhythm when the club that signed you feels it is more beneficial to loan you off to the lower leagues of English football.
But the lack of invention was a collective achievement that was evident from minute one.
When Cullen ballooned another shot well wide of the mark on 32 minutes the Ireland management would be forgiven for feeling the cold chill of panic.



Josh Cullen battles with Alexandre Martínez Palau. Photo: Sergio Ruiz/Inpho


The 25-year-old was not alone in his inaccuracy yet by the half hour mark Ireland had increased the tempo. A decent chance seemed inevitable. Sure enough, Knight, selected on the right of a 4-4-2 system that morphed into a 2-6-2, whipped a cross to the back post for Collins to, surely, head home his third international goal.
Instead, the Cardiff City striker ended up with a gob full of those black rubber pellets from the synthetic surface.
Besides Dara O’Shea heading a Hourihane free-kick miles off target and another calamitous situation involving Cullen and Parrott, the first half of the 12th game in the Kenny era proved that things can always get worse.
The fact that Andorra were able to hustle Irish defenders, thereby denying efforts to build from the back, before parking their bus on the edge of the box reflects awfully on whatever inspiration the 49-year-old had hoped to instil in his players.
Maybe the narrow pitch or a lack of real grass was to blame.
Either way, Parrott taking the game by the scruff of the neck has saved plenty of people’s blushes.
Andorra: Iker (Pires 76); San Nicolás (De Pablos 72), Vales, Llovera, Cervós; Clemente (Martinez 59), Rebés (Garcia 72), Viera (capt), Martínez (Lima 76); Aláez, Fernandez.
Republic of Ireland: Bazunu; Doherty, Egan (capt), O’Shea (Duffy 85), McClean (Manning 85); Knight, Hourihane (Arter 85), Cullen, Curtis (Horgan 65); Collins (Idah 65), Parrott (McGrath 82).
Referee: Xavier Estruda (Spain).