Caoimhin Kelleher made a series of stunning saves to keep Ireland competitive against Greece on Sunday night.
However, his performance was marred by a critical error in added time, which allowed the hosts to score a second goal.
The Liverpool goalkeeper, who is expected to take over as a starter for Arne Slot’s side with Alisson Becker sidelined due to injury, was named Ireland’s man of the match for his efforts in Piraeus.
Unfortunately, his night was soured when he mistakenly passed the ball to Petros Mantalos instead of finding a teammate.
Despite this mistake, Troy Parrott, the former Tottenham striker now playing for AZ in the Netherlands, expressed confidence that Kelleher would not let the error affect him psychologically.
“It’s frustrating for all of us, there is nothing we can do. Everyone makes mistakes, Caoimh doesn’t make many,” Parrott said.
“Everyone in the dressing room is behind him, but I don’t think he needs it because he’s strong enough mentally to deal with it.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating to give a good side like this chances, especially at that time in the game when we were coming back into it and creating good chances ourselves.
“It’s difficult, but we have to move on.
“That [pressure] is what you want, it’s why we all play football to deliver on the biggest stage.
“It doesn’t add any pressure, all of us should be able to own up to what the manager is saying when we’re playing in these big games.”
Ireland’s recent defeat have positioned them third in their Nations League group, trailing behind England but ahead of Finland.
Greece currently top the group following their victory at Wembley last week.
Ireland will travel to London next month and will welcome Finland to Dublin shortly thereafter.
In the meantime, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher is set to play a crucial role for Premier League leaders Liverpool as Alisson recovers from a hamstring injury.
When asked about Kelleher’s error during the match, Ireland’s head coach, Heimir Hallgrimsson, stated: “I have a goalkeeper coach who always says the same thing – football is a team sport until a goalkeeper makes a mistake, then it’s no longer a team sport.
“It is what it is.
“You never know but we were really in the game, we were getting the ball in dangerous positions at this moment.
“But winning or losing was not there, it was because we started too late, I think, to believe in ourselves.”
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