Three games into the Euro 2024 campaign and Republic of Ireland finally get have points on the board, however, the real work begins now, ahead of the vital games against France and the Netherlands in September.
Stephen Kenny's side are already behind the eight ball in this qualifying campaign as they lost their opening two games, most notably their away defeat on Friday in Athens, which could prove crucial when the final totals are tallied in November.
The lengthy build-up to that game in Greece highlighted some of the struggles within this Ireland squad, most notably the fact that many of the players are seriously lacking game-time at their clubs.
As a result, it has been difficult for the manager to establish a regular 11 and even when the continuity does exist, it usually comes with an asterisk or two in relation to players who have arrived into the squad lacking that vital competitive action.
There was another changed team to start the third competitive game as the manager brought five players in for the 3-0 win over Gibraltar, with just one enforced replacement as a result of Matt Doherty’s red card in Athens.
Nothing better than a competitive game for a team to bounce back after a disappointing result and it was almost the perfect start for Kenny’s side at the Aviva as Jamie McGrath stung the hands of keeper Dayle Coleing with just 26 seconds on the clock.
Ireland looked up for it and dominated the early possession, but then the lack of creativity and composure meant that the Gibraltar goal stood intact approaching half-time.
In the 41st minute, there was a brief insight into the type of football that could play a large part in the team’s future, all going well, as Jason Knight, Michael Obafemi and Evan Ferguson linked well to create a shot from the edge of the box for McGrath, with the keeper forced into an excellent save to maintain the stalemate at half-time.
Mikey Johnston’s introduction at the break, combined with a formation shift to a flat back four, proved instrumental as Ireland looked a completely different unit within minutes of the restart.
Johnston would be rewarded with his first international goal in the 52rd minute, before Evan Ferguson grabbed his maiden competitive entry seven minutes later. Adam Idah then added a third and secure his first senior goal for his country.
The confidence that flowed following that first goal will have pleased the manager no end as the reliance on hopeful crosses into the box was replaced by some fine play, albeit against much weaker opposition than they will face later in the campaign.
But overall, it gives Kenny something to build from as he starts plotting the path less travelled on the quest for qualification.
"I like 4-3-3 as a system, 4-2-3-1," said Kenny, speaking about his formation change at half-time, changing from his traditional three at the back to a flat four.
"It’s another way of playing, and Mikey Johnston, Chiedozie Ogbene, and Mark Sykes, who has played there recently for Bristol City, give us possibilities in that area."
The manager also addressed the first half-performance, and while he admitted that it was difficult to create chances against a blanket defence, he suggested that maintaining a sustained attack on a defence will eventually lead to goalscoring chances, as happened in the second half.
"When you get that many bodies defending in the box, it becomes difficult to score from crosses," said Kenny. "But you wear teams down then with constant sustained attacks, and you can’t let teams counter-attack you, and we have got better at that.
"It was an area that we had flaws in our game, and we have got better and stop counterattacks much better now than we used to.
"I’m not measuring it off this game, but the ability to sustain attacks is what you want and they can’t keep going for 90 minutes, and you see the space then for Evan and Adam’s goals with the headers."
Looking ahead to the remainder of the group the manager said that "nothing is impossible" and that his team would be ready to go for what will be a daunting, yet exciting, September double-header to resume the campaign.
"It’s a seven-day window, it’s a short window, it’s France on a Thursday night in Paris and Holland on the Sunday night here in the Aviva Stadium, so it is a really exciting window," said Kenny.
"Two tough games, but two really exciting games, so we have to make sure we are well prepared for them.
"They are epic games, and nothing is impossible, that’s the way we feel about it.
"We pushed France very close and obviously it will be different in Paris, but it will be an interesting game for us and I’m very excited about the two games."
And Kenny emphasised that his team have "every chance" of qualifying for Euro 2024, as long as they can perform well in the September and October windows, ahead of the final game in November.
"I think we made life difficult for ourselves after Friday night," said Kenny, when asked how he felt about his chances of qualification following the victory over Gibraltar.
"But Greece are a good team, and they have to play Holland twice. We have to play Hollland twice, and I think France will win the group.
"We have to have good September and October windows in those four games, but we have a tough September window with Holland and France, so we still have every chance and we just have to back ourselves in that window."
