Hopes high as Ireland look to keep bandwagon rolling
By Kevin Egan
In between the time when these words were written and tonight (Thursday), the mood of the nation will have changed dramatically, one way or another. There are those who live or die by the fates of the Boys in Green and for those, Prague is all that matters.
They’ve suffered the slings of John Delaney and the arrows of Luxembourg and Armenia; they’ve had more false dawns than someone whose bedroom window is directly across from a lighthouse; and yet the irrepressible optimism of those who travelled for tonight’s fixture against Czechia is infectious and admirable.
For the rest of us, those who wish nothing but goodwill on the side but who haven’t really engaged in an emotional way with the national team since 2017 and the play-off against Denmark, there’s something incredibly likeable about this group. The mindset and character of men like Caoimhín Kelleher, Troy Parrott and Seamus Coleman have won over even the most hardened of sceptics - people disillusioned by years of the FAI scrambling around to find Irish connections among footballers who quite plainly considered themselves English first and foremost.
The world of sport is littered with those who might not fully understand the nature of that emotional connection between the athlete and the wider community, but they certainly seem to know plenty about how to exploit or monetise it. In the case of someone like Coleman, in particular, it is the fundamental decency and humanity of the player that resonates, and the majority of those who would seek to leverage his popularity and that of the group as a whole are those who have no concept of such things.
To the assorted corporate sponsors, the bandwagoners, and indeed the FAI themselves, whose response to the nightmare Nations League draw - which pitted the Republic of Ireland against Israel - has been exactly as spineless as expected, disdain remains the only emotion. For the players and the fans, who seem to continue to represent this country with pride and honour through good times and bad, we fervently hope that the bandwagon keeps rolling tonight.