Now it’s personal.
Yes, we were all quite happy to see Wales progress at Euro 2016 and, sure, we all enjoyed a bit of relative success of our own in France that will probably galvanize both respective nations going into the next campaign.
But the next campaign sees the Irish and the Welsh go head-to-head for a place at the World Cup in Russia.
When the draw for the qualifying group was made, no-one in Ireland could quite believe their luck.
Sure, it’s a tight group in that there are arguably five tough teams for anyone to face – Serbia, Austria, Wales, Georgia, and Ireland would all worry any side. But the fact that Martin O’Neill’s men were fourth seeds heading into the draw, they did alright for themselves to avoid a disaster.
Three higher-ranked teams were placed into the same group and Ireland survived. It wasn’t celebrated for too long though. Nothing ever is.
All of Ireland was delighted with the World Cup draw and then we started beating ourselves up http://t.co/b6ZSZ3hV82 pic.twitter.com/hMcsH7LcDp
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 25, 2015
After Wales’ European exit at the hands of Portugal on Wednesday night, attention has turned to the global stage. Only one team qualifies automatically for the World Cup. The eight best runners-up (of nine) go into a playoff.
Ireland play Oman in a home friendly on August 31st and then it’s business time. Three of the country’s first four qualifying games are away from home. The first round of fixtures for the Irish are as follows:
Serbia v Ireland (September 5)
Ireland v Georgia (October 6)
Moldova v Ireland (October 9)
Austria v Ireland (November 12)
Ireland v Wales (March 24)
Gareth Bale and co don’t come to town for another eight and a half months but the rivalry is in the air already.
During ITV’s coverage of Wales’ semi-final with Portugal, it was Ryan Giggs who fired the first shots between the nations with a sly dig at Irish assistant manager Roy Keane.
Keane laughs it off and gives him a couple of playful slaps on the thigh as if to say, “yeah, yeah, you keep talking, Giggsy.”
Bring it on.
