Olé, olé, olé hitting a flat note

MANY of us have been glued to the TV over the past couple of weeks as we enjoy the Euro 2016 Championships in France.

As usual whenever Ireland play, the Irish Army follows in droves and thousands of Irish fans have made the short journey over to France for the football.

Judging by the social media posts they certainly have been enjoying the occasion and they have been well received by their hosts and opposing supporters who have joined in the famous Irish craic.

Some of the viral videos of the supporters have been brilliant and it certainly looks as if a new generation of Irish supporter has taken up the tradition of ‘Joxer’ who travelled on a shoestring and credit union loan to the European Championships in Germany in 1988 and World Cup in Italy in 1990.

Having performed so well against Sweden in their opening game there was real hope that Ireland could advance to the final sixteen of the tournament.

Martin O’Neill’s side played brilliantly against Sweden last Monday week and were full value for their lead goal from Wes Hoolahan. Unfortunately they didn’t convert the performance into a win and had to settle for a share of the spoils following Ciaran Clark’s own goal.

Last Saturday we hoped that Ireland could carry their performance from that game into their second game against the highest ranked European side in football, but the Belgians proved a class apart and were too strong for Ireland.

However surely we should have had a penalty when Shane Long was the meat in a Belgian aerial attack just before they scored the opening goal of the game.

Hope of advancing to the next stage of the competition seems to have faded following the slap of reality from the Belgians on Saturday and even the most ardent of Irish supporter if not optimistic that we can repeat the heroics of the Giants Stadium during the 1994 World Cup when we beat Italy 1-0 this coming Wednesday.

The life of an Irish supporter really is an emotional rollercoaster ride, with temporary highs followed by long troughs.

Already many supporters are gloomy about the next World Cup campaign as our ageing side has shown its limitations and we despair over a lack of depth and quality in the playing pool.