It seems like a lifetime ago now.. but relive the madness with this collection of images.

The Boys in Green are going home early and there are genuine reasons for Irish football fans to be feeling down, writes Miguel Delaney.

Stephen Kelly, Paul Green and Kevin Doyle seemed pretty interested in one photographer’s camera earlier.

“We came here with the aim and the dream of winning the European Championships. It’s gone completely wrong for us,” said the Aston Villa defender this afternoon.

“We don’t see fear in training or in our preparations for the tournament, I don’t see tensions in the side,” said the Italian after the rout by Spain.

“I’m not too happy with all that nonsense. To praise the supporters for sake of it … Let’s change that attitude towards Irish supporters.”

“You can hear the fans, they’re an absolute credit to their country and the team,” said the West Brom man after the defeat.

The Irish are the first team eliminated from the tournament after a night to forget in Gdansk.

With a mouth-watering Group C game against defending champions Spain hours away, the Irish are painting the city green.

Miguel Delaney is in Gdansk for us… and for once his journalistic objectivity is welcome.

The message from the Ireland skipper was clear this afternoon ahead of the daunting meeting with world champions Spain in Gdynia: believe.

“Clearly we are not going to change our style one little bit,” the Barcelona man insisted today.

The 73-year-old Italian coach said he has to rebuild some dented Irish confidence before taking on Vicente del Bosque’s Spain.

Ukraine the perfect hosts, England go back to basics and more headers. Miguel Delaney breaks it down.

“This morning, I watched our game with more calmness and came to the conclusion that we played good,” the Ireland boss said today.

All is not lost, Ireland fans. No seriously… it’s not.

Cian O’Callaghan woke up with a thumping headache, a sore jaw and a magical day’s worth of memories.

If you’re going to sit back and invite teams onto you, the most important objective is not to commit the kind of errors that sabotage that, writes Miguel Delaney in Poznan.

“Maybe Shay didn’t see the ball, because he had three or four players in front of him,” Trapattoni said of the early Croatian goal.

The Italian said Ireland will now aim for six points against Spain and Italy over the course of the next week.

Ireland were out-classed by Croatia in their Group C opener in Poland tonight. Here’s how it happened.

Nothing says game-time like defacing your national flag by scrawling the name of your local pub onto it.

Miguel Delaney breaks down what fans throughout the continent can hope for this month at the Euros.

This is one way to counteract the Spaniards’ tiki-taka.

“We had a spa day yesterday, massages and stuff like that. It was a good relaxing day and you could see that. It was back again to sharpness on the pitch today.”

Ireland defender Paul McShane seemed to keep his head as all about him lost theirs.

“Today, he rested but I think he is ready to play. Yes, he is 100% fit. Everything is good,” the Italian said today.

A transfer to a big club? A goal to cement a reputation? A few minutes on the pitch? Here’s what’s on offer.

Don’t worry, Irish fans. You’ll be able to get in an English-language mass before the Spain game.

“Nobody is more desperate than Shay to play on Sunday. I don’t think wild horses would keep him from being on that pitch,” said Alan Kelly today.

They may be the world and European champions but only 300 fans turned out to watch Spain this morning. Ireland had around 13,000 yesterday.

And in his first press conference in Poland, Trapattoni says Ireland won’t go to one up front.. just yet.

The squad’s Polish hosts made the Boys in Green feel welcome on their arrival for the upcoming championships.

Plans for hooleys on the Walkinstown roundabout, drinking bowls of loud-mouth soup on high stools, retro jerseys and some football. Here’s how we see it.

Croatia manager Slaven Bilic watched from the stands but he saw Ireland being Ireland, according to Richard Dunne.

Ireland were overrun by their hosts in Budapest at times tonight.

What’s on the stereo as we head for Poznan? Let us know.