A night of verbal jousting, nothing more

AND they say no-one really cares about international friendlies any more. Try telling that to the 31,241 at the Aviva Stadium last night.

When it’s the Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland, it matters. It always has.

There may not have been qualification points at stake, but this was a match supporters were desperate not to lose.

So even a 0-0 in mid-November at a half-empty ground will be remembered, not least for an encouraging Northern Ireland performance.

This, though, was about more than the football.

It was only the sides’ third official meeting in 20-plus years, and a rare chance for a win that would mean so much to fans.

The hours leading up to kick-off had brought much talk about respect.

Then the music rolled for the anthems and the bonhomie was put to one side.

James McClean, Kyle Lafferty, Brexit — they all got a touch.

Yet it was a far cry from 25 years ago in November 1993, when sides met on a poisonous night in Belfast.

Few will forget the spitting venom of hostility and hate raining down from the Windsor Park terraces.

This, by contrast, was a bit of verbal jousting, nothing more.

The anthems were loudly booed, so too McClean (right with Gareth McAuley), but did we really expect any different?

There wasn’t any trouble as Northern Ireland fans made their way to the stadium.

Groups of gardai kept a lowkey watch, but it didn’t seem anything too removed from other big matches here.

Merchandise stalls even offered half-and-half Northern Ireland-Republic scarves. The demand did seem limited.

The match programme featured a drawing of George Best and Johnny Giles, two of the sides’ greatest players, arm in arm.

In his programme notes, Republic manager Martin O’Neill wrote fondly of his times pulling on the Northern Ireland jersey. He recalled the “honour” of captaining the team at Spain ’82.

FAI chief executive John Delaney also wrote of how the relationship between the two associations has grown stronger.

DUP leader Arlene Foster had broken off from the unfolding Brexit chaos to attend the game.

She posed for photographs with Delaney and Donal Conway, the FAI president.

Posting on Twitter, she wrote: “Delighted to be in Dublin for Northern Ireland’s friendly with the Republic of Ireland. Great welcome by FAI CEO John Delaney & FAI President Donal Conway.”

And minutes before kick-off supporters from each country exchanged jerseys pitch-side in a further show of sportsmanship.

The intention was good, but old habits die hard. Cue the anthems. Predictable? Probably, but it jarred with what had gone before.

Also largely unsurprising was the reaction to McClean, the Green & White Army’s pantomime villain.

His first touch came around 90 seconds in and was greeted with loud boos from the travelling section.

The away fans mocked the Londonderry-born winger’s decision to switch allegiance, singing: “James McClean, he’s one of our own”.

Later they touched on Brexit, taunting the home support with chants of “You’re just a small part of Europe”.

At times the off-field antics distracted from matters on pitch but as the clock ticked down, increasingly frustrated Republic supporters lamented another lacklustre performance from their side.

The final whistle drew boos. Somehow it seemed appropriate.