Troy Parrott left to feed off scraps by an Irish team that never found any rhythm

Troy Parrott’s night in Kosovo ended in desperate frustration, substituted with more than 10 minutes remaining and booting a football against a wall as he trudged to the dugout. By the equivalent stage of Ireland’s win in Budapest last November, Parrott still had only one goal to his name. Instead he finished this night sitting in the dugout, watching a train of Kosovo players flash by as they sprinted down the touchline, losing themselves in their joy at Vedat Muriqi’s late winning goal.Muriqi was this game’s headline act, striding around the pitch magnificently; winning a series of towering headers and shunting Irish defenders out of his way like skittles. That Muriqi had to stoop to score the winning goal was a rich irony. Parrott, by contrast, endured a maddening night, left to feed off scraps by an Irish team that never found any semblance of attacking rhythm.This team’s resurgence since November of last year was made possible only by Parrott’s goalscoring abilities, and so it stands to reason Ireland look as dowdy and uninspired as this when they can’t give him anything with which to work. The game’s hero was instead the brusque, ponytailed Muriqi.READ MOREMuriqi was the second-most striking part of the skyline at Pristina’s Fadil Vokrri Stadium, beaten only by the adjacent Palace of Youth and Sports, a stunning relic of Tito’s regime with a series of sharply angular trusses that rise from the roof like something out of Blade Runner. It was a fitting backdrop for an international window that has felt like stepping into some grey, alternative world, in which the politics and the sport have intermingled to the point they are now indistinct.While the primary contentions of Ireland’s fortnight will come this weekend, the Kosovan supporters transfigured Thursday night’s stage into another theatre of protest against the jailing of four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) for war crimes committed during the war of independence from Serbia.A giant KLA tifo was unveiled by the Kosovo ultras before kick-off, while the crowd was a patchwork of smaller, red KLA flags. Some Irish fans joined the movement too, with one fan spending Ireland’s warm-up standing with a KLA flag draped around him like a cloak, roaring at Liam Scales to ask him to give him a wave.Winning a football match seems an almost banal thing in a fortnight as fraught as this, but this is the job handed to Heimir Hallgrímsson. And so in this bewildering context, he sought refuge in the familiar, retaining his usual 3-4-2-1, changing personnel in defence and midfield only where injury forced his hand.Kosovo's Veldin Hodža with Ireland's Chiedozie Ogbene. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho His front trio were therefore retained, with Finn Azaz and Chiedozie Ogbene in support of Parrott for the fourth competitive game in a row, stretching back to the night Ireland defibrillated their World Cup campaign at home to Portugal last November. Ireland scored seven goals across those three games: six were scored by Parrott and the other was an own goal by the Czech Republic goalkeeper.With the Irish team now in the era of Troydependencia, Hallgrímsson has adjudicated the blend of Azaz’s technical qualities and Ogbene’s physicality as Parrott’s best support system. In Pristina, however, too often they left Parrott isolated and frustrated, with passes either underhit or overcooked. Perhaps they were asked to carry a disproportionate burden, given the rest of the starting outfield team was made up of a pair of defensive midfielders and five centre backs.[ Ireland players to decide whether to stage protest amid Israel game, says Dara O’SheaOpens in new window ]Nonetheless, Ogbene clanked with ring-rust, having completed 90 minutes just once so far this season, while Azaz was oddly diffident and indecisive. Kosovo’s early dominance of possession offered Ireland a series of counter-attacking opportunities that they continually spurned. Azaz skidded an early ball in behind the Kosovo defence that was marginally too far ahead of Parrott, which admittedly wasn’t helped by a bobbly, unreliable pitch.Azaz wasted another two golden openings later in the half: first his pass to Parrott was intercepted when the better option was to play in Ogbene, and shortly after he played a simple pass for Parrott directly to an opponent’s feet.The sloppiness was general and not exclusive to Azaz. Scales wasted an easy pass in behind for Ogbene, while Ogbene wasted Ireland’s best chance of the first half, screwing a shot from inside the box over the bar after he was picked out by James Abankwah.[ Those pushing wunderkind Cavan Sullivan would do well to recall the fate of Freddy AduOpens in new window ]Parrott’s frustrations occasionally erupted amid this staccato rhythm. When Jake O’Brien lofted a high ball in his general direction, sending him into a tussle with a Kosovo defender. Parrott admirably forced a throw-in before he turned around to berate O’Brien for not playing the ball to his feet.These moments of needlessly wasted energy accumulate. Parrott got his only sight of goal early in the second half, doing well to meet a cross to the back post with a header that forced a save from Arijanet Muric, his first – and only – of the night. Ogbene made way on the hour mark for Jack Moylan while Parrott toiled until the 80th minute, at which point he was withdrawn for Adam Idah.He watched on as Ireland fell apart, ultimately flattered by the scoreline. Budapest feels a long, long time ago.