If Ireland are going to qualify for the World Cup, it would appear that they are going to have to do it the hard way, following a fortuitous 2-2 draw with Hungary to open the campaign.
It was almost all over before it had even begun, as Hungary raced into an early two-goal lead thanks to goals from Barnabas Varga and Roland Sallai in the third and 16th minute respectively.
And in truth, things did not improve dramatically throughout the remainder of the first half, as Heimir Hallgrimsson's selection failed to find the cohesion to back up the confidence that was emanating from camp in the build-up to the game.
The selected eleven that started was largely predictable, although, the manager did opt to play Matt Doherty at left back to allow Jake O’Brien to replicate the role he plays at club side Everton.
And the opening goal exposed the home defence, as Hungary were offered far too much space on the ball to work it in from the left flank, before Doherty committed the schoolboy error of not following his clearance to get up with the defensive line.
"Adversity before success" was coach Paddy McCarthy’s appraisal of this Ireland team in recent years, and so that theme would continue as a second goal was conceded.
Being the best at set-pieces is one of Hallgrimsson’s main principles, but it all went horribly wrong as Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner was headed home by the unmarked Sallai.
The defensive set-up for the corner appeared zonal, or if not, much too passive, and as a result, the small bit of movement from the Hungarian attack before the ball was delivered away from the from post caused clear problems.
Nathan Collins failed to get close to Sallai and the free header gave Caoimhín Kelleher no chance once the ball zipped off the attacker’s forehead.
Ireland managed to get in at the break just about still in the contest and the manager admitted after the game that he challenged that same eleven to go out and atone for the error-strewn and lacklustre opening 45 minutes.
And to their credit, they responded, and Ryan Manning’s well-struck set-piece led to Evan Ferguson reducing the deficit to make it a one-goal game.
A petulant foul on Dara O’Shea then handed Ireland that bit of luck that had been lacking as Sallai was shown a straight red card.
Surprisingly, the ten men showed some slick counterattacking play and were it not for some solid saves from Kelleher, the three points would have been wrapped up before Ireland could make an injury-time assault on the Hungary goal.
The home side huffed and puffed and for all the crosses fired into the mix, there was a lack of composure, while the Hungary goalkeeper also made a couple of good saves.
But finally a bit of quality arrived with just three minutes remaining, as a string of good passes worked the ball across the edge of the box and finally to the feet of Manning, arriving into the box off the left flank.
The former Galway United man stood the ball up towards the back post and Adam Idah timed his run to perfection before powering his header home to secure a point.
After the game, the manager expressed his disappointment regarding the two goals that his side conceded, which gave the team a mountain to climb in the second half.
However, Hallgrimsson could at least take heart from the second-half performance as the team completed the difficult task of coming back from a two-goal deficit to claim a creditable draw.
"I felt like we deserved all the three points," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the post match press conference. "But given that we conceded the two goals in the beginning and especially the manner they came, it was a sloppy, sloppy 2-0 loss and in such an important game you don't want that.
"We conceded two in the early stages, so unhappy with the first half. But listen, it's not easy to come back from a 2-0 down at this level.
"So that's not easy and I give all the credit to the guys for the second half. The character they showed, the bravery and all the effort they put in, I give them a lot of credit for the second half."
Hallgrimsson said that he had seen enough towards the end of the first half to get the sense that his side had worked their way into the game, and as a result, he did not make any changes but just challenged the team to go for it in the second half.
"We felt the last 15 minutes in the first half, we started to get grip of the game. We started to move the ball better from side to side. We created some good opportunities and even chances," said Hallgrimsson.
"We felt that they deserved to show a different side of themselves in the second half. We had actually nothing to lose. We just said, we just go, we go gung-ho."
Ireland bombarded the Hungarian box in the second half, however, there was that lack of composure and quality with many of the deliveries, and it irked the manager somewhat before they finally started to get things right in the build-up to the equaliser.
"Some of them were under-hit, we didn't attack it with belief," he said. "I thought that grew as the game went on. We came in with more speed and more belief, because we have absolutely great players in the air.
"We should believe in that strength of ours and come with full belief in every aerial duel that we have."
While Hallgrimsson needs to reflect on what went wrong in the first half, he will ultimately endeavour to take the positives from the second-half performance to take into the rest of the campaign, and he stressed the importance of Hungary not actually winning the game.
"It was positives and negatives, more positives I would say after the game than negatives," he said.
"And you should always try to find the positives when the game is finished. Obviously, we need to recognise what we did badly, especially at the start of the game. We need to address that as well.
"But listen, like I said, it's not easy at this level to come back from 2-0 down against a team that's 30 places higher than us in the FIFA ranking. That's for sure. And we should take pride in what we did on the pitch, how we dominated the second half.
"You know, we were relentless in creating openings and chances and crosses and shots. But I would have given their goalkeeper the man of the match, not ours.
"But we definitely respect the point, every point in this group is vital. One point for us, but more important, not three points for Hungary."
A grumbling Hungary manager, Marco Rossi, felt that the game was more like a wrestling match than a football match, and was certain that the opening Ireland goal should have been ruled out for dangerous play by Nathan Collins.
"When we play at home, I will be really surprised if we have a referee like this today, leaving them killing us in every contact," he said.
The Ireland manager was not too concerned about his counterpart’s comments, highlighting the fact that Hungary were wasting time as soon as they took the two-goal lead.
"If he’s p****d, then he’s just p****d," said Hallgrimsson.
