Wow.

Okay, okay, we all got a little excited ourselves. Well, in fairness, when it came down to two teams left in the hat for us to draw, it was a 50/50 chance that we'd end up with a trip to Rome and the task of denying Italy a World Cup spot for the first time since 1958. So it was Denmark or Italy and we were relieved it wasn't latter. And, yes, sure, fine, we might've even transformed that relief to sheer joy in the moments that followed. But we're heading to Copenhagen with a chance of making Russia and, most importantly, we don't have to play Croatia to get there. https://www.instagram.com/p/BaWeeAKFzWN/?taken-by=sportsjoedotie When the draw was made though, it wasn't just the Irish who were celebrating. Christ no, they were toasting Fernando Hierro in Scandinavia too.

The analysis

"Will be a dirty game against Ireland. They're not exactly choirboys." https://twitter.com/SSorgenfri/status/920266593300606976 Something about an EM88 and a VM90 but then... "They are a team that concedes many free kicks and almost never shoot at goal." https://twitter.com/MortenKEspersen/status/920266090197999616

The celebrations

"I saw the Wales-Ireland game and if we can't beat Ireland, we don't deserve to go to the World Cup." https://twitter.com/lorentsen_m/status/920266434047078401 "Ireland will be a manageable opponent." https://twitter.com/FlashScoreDK/status/920269305501114370 "It was Ireland. Denmark ends (?) out. Have the tools for this meeting." https://twitter.com/KraulDR/status/920267098009559041 "Ireland. Easy." https://twitter.com/Raatforusoedet/status/920270500319940608 The worst of them all. "Ireland will be fun. Festive. And a World Cup ticket. It has to be." https://twitter.com/suneoder/status/920274612679794688

The balance

"Would rather have had the north but ok." https://twitter.com/FaroeRSH/status/920273069289156609 "Ireland over the two matches is an absolutely fine litmus test on whether Denmark has a national team that deserves a place at the World Championships." https://twitter.com/linigerDR/status/920274345297104901

The fear

Not everyone was happy. "Ireland, shit. The worst draw, if you ask me." https://twitter.com/Fonoudi6eren/status/920261766864613376 The beauty of Ireland is that, whilst we don't claim to be amazing even amongst ourselves, nobody really knows why we can dig out such results and yet we do. We do it far too often. That, in itself, is enough to fear.