Niall Kelly reports from the Starbucks in Stansted Airport
FOR THE FIRST time in a long time, the fans lingered in the Aviva Stadium to soak up every last morsel of a moment they hoped would never end. Then they floated out into the Dublin night on a cloud of optimism.
The contrast with June’s draw against Scotland, a time when everything seemed to be slipping out of Ireland’s grasp, could not have been more stark. Wins like this don’t come along too often and when they do, they must be savoured.
But they don’t exist in a vacuum either, at least not for long. When the Green Army woke up, their unexpectedly foggy heads reminding them that, no, this wasn’t a dream, they knew that last night’s place in the Irish canon will be determined as much by what is yet to come as it was by those gloriously unlikely events.
Robbie Keane, a man who has been around the block enough times to know the whims and vagaries of an international qualification campaign, said it best when he stopped to meet the media afterwards.
Where does this rank among the great moments of his career?
“Let’s speak about that after Sunday’s game,” he said cautiously, taking a step back from the intoxicating giddiness. “If we qualify automatically, it’s certainly up there.”
Because challenges beget challenges. And if Martin O’Neill’s side scaled a mountain to topple the world champions, now they are hoping — to use the manager’s own words — to climb Everest in their summer clothes and secure automatic qualification.
They poured out every ounce of themselves to deliver the country’s biggest result since Steve Finnan’s cross flummoxed the Dutch defence and Jason McAteer rifled in a goal that will never be forgotten.
It was hardly surprising that O’Neill choose to cancel this morning’s scheduled training session. What was left to give?
Now, on just two days’ rest, they are being asked to follow up one historic performance with another. Win in Warsaw — or even secure a 2-2 draw or better — and they will sidestep the lottery of the playoffs.
Even in the sobering light of day, there are plenty of reasons to believe that they might. Glenn Whelan and James McClean are both available for selection on Sunday having served their one-match suspension, and Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson are finally free of their respective injuries. There’s no Shay Given, but Darren Randolph hardly put a foot wrong when called upon.
O’Neill will spend the next 48 hours at the tactics board, devising the gameplan that he feels will give Ireland the best chance of booking their place in France.
One thing seems certain: they will have a huge contingent of travelling fans behind them in Poland’s 57,000-seater National Stadium. Maybe Dublin Airport wasn’t any busier than usual for a Friday morning but you couldn’t miss the splashes of green, nor the slightly glum troop of German fans who expected to have their own qualification secured by this point.
Some roads led to Cardiff; others to Warsaw for a game that has the chance to shape and define this current generation of Irish football.
Super Sunday? Let’s hope so.
