O’Neill and Ireland have done magnificently well

WE are where we never expected to be. We fervently hoped we would be, of course we did. It’s just that after the Scotland game last June we felt it beyond our capabilities.

Too much had to go too right for us for it to even be considered the remotest of possibilities. We needed the Georgians to do us a favour. We then needed to do onto the Georgians as they had done onto Scotland.

Beyond that we needed to take something from the German and Polish games. Fat chance of that. We couldn’t beat Scotland at home, what chance of doing so against the mighty Germany?

So we wrote it off, paid scant attention to the squad announcement for the first batch of post summer break internationals, paid even less attention to the Gibraltar game in Faro.

For sure we cast the odd eye towards the television as events transpired – the Republic ran out four-nil winners – marvelling at Robbie Keane’s continued enthusiasm for the international game and gluttony for goals.

It was minor diversion of a Friday evening, nothing more than that. Until, that is, word filtered through of the events transpiring in Tiblisi. Valeri Qazaishvili’s goal changed everything.

With that goal and that result we were back in the hunt. With that Scottish defeat Ireland could believe again. There was reason to. There was something to play for when the Germans came to town a month later.

To win as they did, to play as well as they did was, even then, completely unexpected. Less than six months beforehand, after all, we had written off this generation of Irish footballers as simply not good enough.

Days such as this, big moments to capture the imagination of a nation, things of the past. Shane Long’s goal and Darren Randolph’s brilliant long distance pass not only secured Ireland at least a play-off spot for next year’s European Championships, they bridged a generational gap.

For the first time in fourteen years Ireland had gone toe-totoe with one of the best and come out on top. Lansdowne Road had long craved a night such as this, a night to rival the win over the Dutch – then managed by Louis Van Gaal (whatever happened to him?) – in 2001.

In the middle of Rugby World Cup mania, Ireland were still on course to take a place in the World Cup Final at that stage, the pendulum of public attention swung decisively away from egg chasing to the garrison game for a couple of days.

Everybody wanted to talk about the game, everybody had a pep in their step, everybody was positive... until Robert Lewandowski’s goal in Warsaw later in the week. With that a lot of the negativity, which far too often surrounds the team, returned.

It was almost as if the German match had never happened. Covetous glances were cast up North at what Michael O’Neill had managed with Northern Ireland and east towards what Chris Coleman and Wales had achieved. Unfair comparisons were drawn.

Remember the Republic of Ireland’s group was probably the most difficult they could have got. Germany were and are the World Champions. Poland are a coming force in European football and in Lewandowski have the form player in Europe at their disposal.

To gain four points off Germany over the course of the group is a remarkable achievement, to manage just one against Poland home and away isn’t nearly as impressive – although few were complaining when Shane Long got that late, late equaliser.

Whatever way you look at it Ireland and their manager have done magnificently well to get to this point and, at the risk of making the same mistake twice, there would be no shame in going out to Bosnia-Herzegovina this weekend.

Martin O’Neill has suspensions to contend with – John O’Shea and Jonathan Walters are out of the first match – and injuries – Shane Long, Shay Given, John O’Shea (a doubt for the second leg), Rob Elliott.

The Bosnians are well above us in the world rankings in twentieth position. The Republic of Ireland are in forty second place. The rankings mean very little and they mean a lot.

Ireland rarely punch above their weight in international football any more. You can count the number of times we’re beaten teams ranked above us on one hand in the last five years in competitive football.

Bosnia-Herzegovina also have what Ireland no longer do – a top quality scorer of goals. Edin Dzeko regularly finds the back of the net for club and country. Ireland, meanwhile, rely increasingly upon Shane Long who is a scorer of great goals rather than a great scorer of goals.

With the second leg to come next Monday evening in Dublin, Ireland do have a chance, but that’s all it is a chance, an outside one at that. If Ireland do fail it’s worth bearing in mind before people begin to get too indignant should they fall short.

Cut them some of the slack offered to the rugby team whose failure was in a far less competitive environment. Football is a world game, rugby for all its virtues simply is not.