Russia seems further away than ever now.
Martin O’Neill lost his first ever competitive game at the Aviva Stadium against Serbia tonight, but of far greater importance was the result’s impact on Ireland’s World Cup qualification prospects.
After a dream start to the campaign, Ireland have claimed only three points from their last four qualifiers – three of which were at home – and qualification for our first World Cup since 2002 now seems a very difficult prospect indeed.
Having defeated Moldova, Wales have now leapfrogged Ireland into second place in the group and with first place now almost certainly out of reach, six points from our two remaining encounters against Wales and Moldova will likely be required to even give us a chance of making it to Russia.
The game itself proved to be extremely dispiriting for Ireland fans, particularly considering an encouraging first half performance, when
Wes Hoolahan (who didn’t last long in the second half) was an influential presence.
Try as they might, Ireland couldn’t deliver a response to Alexsandar Kolarov’s thumping winner, even when Serbia went down to ten men for the last quarter.
We’re not out of it yet, but it’s hard to escape the mood of despondency that greeted tonight’s result, a mood that was reflected on social media in the immediate aftermath.
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/905171808302665728
https://twitter.com/mattletiss7/status/905167804801929218
https://twitter.com/Mike_Quirke/status/905170578583248896
https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/905170932397993984
https://twitter.com/HateChrisGreene/status/905170420764205056
https://twitter.com/MolloyJoe/status/905169772765220864
https://twitter.com/cooper_m/status/905169732088856578
https://twitter.com/JoeCallaghan84/status/905169678229700609
https://twitter.com/phlaimeaux/status/905170188886315008
