Everything looks different today. At dawn in Lille Flandres station on Thursday morning, a familiar cry drifted up from the metro. If things had gone another way at Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Wednesday night, if things had played out as many had expected, it might have been a bit tiresome hearing ‘Stand Up for the Boys in Green’ as the sun rose, “having no alternative, on the nothing new”.
Instead there was a different energy injected into the same old songs which are now the soundtrack to a new Ireland story.
The party, as L’Equipe said on Thursday morning, has begun again. “It never stopped,” one Irish fan said when he saw the newspaper, but it would have been limping towards a dismal conclusion if Ireland had been eliminated in the group stages.
PIC: The front page of tomorrow's L'Equipe should be framed in every Irish household https://t.co/9taEKaZDmJ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 22, 2016
But Robbie Brady’s goal changed everything. There are underlying problems in Irish football which weren’t solved in Lille last night, but, arguably for the first time in twenty years, the country has a football story it is unconditionally captivated by, a story that engages the country like nothing else can.
Not since 1994’s victory over Italy has Ireland had a moment like it in tournament football. Robbie Keane’s equaliser in Ibaraki in 2002 came close, but that World Cup will always be about Saipan.
This tournament looked as if it would be shaped by the defeat to Belgium as 2012 had been shaped by the misery against Spain, but now anything is possible.
On Wednesday night, O’Neill picked an eleven whose core message was to remind Italy that this game didn’t matter to Antonio Conte’s side. If ever they thought it might matter, there would be a reminder that it didn’t. If Italy considered caring there would be a James McClean challenge, a Jeff Hendrick tackle or the sight of Shane Duffy charging in for a set-piece to force them to reconsider. The message was clear: don’t even think about caring about this.
Italy might have been happy to surrender given they had already topped the group, but the changed circumstances against France shouldn’t lead to a changed emphasis.
O’Neill should, injuries permitting, pick the same side in Lyon. Jon Walters is unlikely to be fit enough to start which might be the only consideration. Otherwise, O’Neill should embrace the change this eleven brought.
MON – "There wasn’t a player out there in an Irish shirt who didn’t perform heroically"
— Dion Fanning (@dionfanning) June 22, 2016
“For us, it was knockout football,” O’Neill said on Newstalk on Thursday morning. Ireland should take the same approach into a game which is knockout for both sides, especially as some might be tempted to keep it tight and play for penalties.
Ireland can’t keep it tight. They have nothing to lose in Lyon and they need to point out to France how much they have to lose as hosts. The nation, which is ambivalent about their national team, will be watching on Sunday and Ireland should try and take advantage of the pressure they’ll be under.
France’s attacking potential may prompt O’Neill to consider recalling Glenn Whelan, but that would diminish Ireland too much. James McCarthy excelled without him and the same midfield could unsettle the hosts.
Wes Hoolahan’s exclusion may be the hardest to come to terms with, but if he can do what he did in the final half an hour again then the country might just come to terms with it.
With Dimitri Payet, Anthony Martial, Antoine Griezmann and Kingsley Coman, there is clearly a greater attacking risk from France than there is from Italy, but only by summoning the same energy they showed in Lille will Ireland be able to consider a similar result.
On the field, Ireland shoved Italy back, but they also dominated them psychologically. They also scored late again, showing that whatever it is that O’Neill does, it has produced an indomitable spirit.
“When you do it so often, it can’t be a coincidence,” O’Neill said of his players’ ability to score a late goal. The game had looked over when Hoolahan missed his chance in the minute before Brady scored. Few believed Ireland would get a better chance, but then a sweeping move ended with Hoolahan’s immediate redemption when he crossed for Brady.
“We go again,” Brady said afterwards and that might be the slogan for this side. It was enough at that stage to undo an Italy side who had lost interest in the aspects of the game O’Neill’s Ireland rarely lose interest in.
He had picked a side he hoped would respond with these qualities and he wasn’t disappointed.
You won’t get far with spirit alone O’Neill said on Wednesday night. It was the truth, as the talent of James McCarthy, Jeff Hendrick and Brady among others demonstrated in Lille. But there is another truth as well. Without that spirit, Ireland wouldn’t be getting very far at all.
