Monday morning quaterbacks!
A few years back XL airways had an engine failure just north of Alexandria, I seem to remember a lot of flack on these forums for not landing in Egypt.
The fact of the matter was that by the time the QRH items had been done Larnaca was the best place to go.
I suspect that this situation was much the same except that the anti Ryanair faction is much bigger and rushing to jump on the band wagon.