THIS MEANT EVERYTHING to Greece and very little to the Republic of Ireland.
It showed.
That is perhaps the most galling aspect of all from a qualifying campaign that began with a sense of purpose.
Now it has two games remaining and Ireland are looking down on Gibraltar at the bottom of Group B hoping they don’t sink any further.
Euro 2024 has been an afterthought since the last international window yet its fate was perhaps sealed way back in June when Ireland toiled in Athens and left with nothing.
In front of their own fans here they couldn’t even muster the consolation of a goal, let alone a point.
It wouldn’t have been deserved. The boos rang around a sparsely populated Aviva Stadium at full-time on what is likely to be Stephen Kenny’s last competitive game in charge here.
Quite simply, the better team won.
The smarter, braver and more effective team.
There was so much to admire about Greece’s second goal, a counter attack of ruthless efficiency.
Ireland were left embarrassingly exposed given the game was entering the third minute of injury time at the end of the first half rather than the second.
But the manner in which the visitors punished that naivety was sublime.
It was a goal any team would be proud of; simple but so, so deadly.
Dimitris Pelkas nicked possession from Chiedozie Ogbene 10 yards from his own 18-yard box.
Thirteen seconds later the ball was in the Ireland net.
There would be a VAR check for a potential handball at the starting point but the goal stood.
And what a goal.
Petros Mantalos had most of Ringsend to aim for when he looked up, floating his pass for Giorgos Giakoumakis who was just about in his own half when it was played.
The former Celtic striker, whose bullet header had given Greece the lead on 20 minutes, collected the ball from the sky with chest control that allowed him to maintain momentum and stay on the attack.
This is when eyes were drawn back to Pelkas.
He wouldn’t be the scorer – that was Giorgos Masouras – but the intensity of the break forward by Greece’s No.10 was matched by the awareness to arc his run and find the sweet spot.
He was just about level in a foot race with Josh Cullen as the pair began their gallop towards goal.
But while the Ireland centre midfielder was attracted towards the ball and the middle of the area, Pelkas had begun to veer wide to the right.
Masouras made tracks for the penalty spot, in between Matt Doherty and Liam Scales, and the cross from Giakoumakis just had too much on it for him to prod home.
Pelkas’ decision to take the long way around, appearing over Scales’ blindside as the debutant hesitated, proved inspired.
He was ready and waiting to scoop the ball back inside, where Masouras adjusted his body to finish through the legs of Doherty and past Gavin Bazunu.
It was excellent; adventurous, powerful, confident and clinical.
Not to mention coherent.
Everything that Ireland weren’t on a desponding night at Aviva Stadium.
The opening two minutes provided flickers of potential; Will Smallbone stinging the palms of Greece goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos after clever work from Ogbene created the space.
Seconds later and Evan Ferguson stroked a left-footed shot against the outside of the post with a shot from 20 yards. The forward, who turns 19 next week, dropped into space, was able to turn and drift inside.
Any hope that this would be a night in which Ireland maintained such verve soon began to dissipate as Gus Poyet’s side got a handle on things.
Kenny’s switch to a flat back four with Scales starting at full back was a surprise.
Greece arrived into Dublin amid claims of inside information helping to plot that 2-1 win in Athens, but it didn’t take long for the away side to catch on to the change in shape and assert their superiority.
There may have been an element of good fortune when ball broke kindly for Kostas Tsimikas in a duel with Ogbene, but what followed in the moments after was pure class; the Liverpool full back arrowing a fierce cross over Nathan Collins where Giakoumakis was waiting to convert a powerful header.
With this campaign not so much drifting as it is sunken, perhaps another attempt at doing something different made sense from the Ireland manager.
That has been the whole point of Kenny’s reign; being fresh and confident, and beginning the process of revitalising a decaying Irish system that had its most sustained success at a time when the backpass law had not yet been outlawed and it was celebrated by special edition VHS tapes.
But change must come from the bottom up, and maybe the talk of “legacy” from the FAI after winning the bid to co-host Euro 2028 won’t just be vacuous suit-speak.
World Cups in 1994 and 2002, qualification for Euro 2012 – the less said about what actually happened once there – and Martin O’Neill’s crowning glory in 2016 are the moments we wish could somehow become regular achievements.
The powers that be in the FAI already appear set to usher in change once the review of this campaign takes place from November, but the post-mortems are already beginning.
Bit by bit and defeat after defeat, the confidence, belief and trust has slowly etched away.