Eamon Dunphy (not on the RTÉ panel tonight) must have been loving it.
It hasn't been a great 45 minutes for Ireland in Chișinău this evening, but despite a late first-half equaliser from the hosts, there has been at least one positive for Irish fans.
With Jeff Hendrick suspended and Robbie Brady injured, Martin O’Neill restored Wes Hoolahan to the starting line-up, a move that went down very well indeed with Irish fans.
It didn’t take long for him to show why.
A beautiful pass to set up Shane Long’s opener within three minutes was Hoolahan’s first outstanding contribution and he generally tended to be at the heart of everything good Ireland did in the opening 45 minutes.
On social media, his contribution did not go unnoticed; fingers crossed some more magic can help get us get the right result in the second half.
https://twitter.com/Ebenno88/status/785195083087962112
https://twitter.com/SleevesElliott/status/785190326101282816
https://twitter.com/alancaw/status/785199296060780544
https://twitter.com/HistoryLOI/status/785191006337720320
https://twitter.com/MolloyJoe/status/785195576686149632
https://twitter.com/ConanDoherty/status/785190327007281152
https://twitter.com/Pendred/status/785190347047575552
https://twitter.com/noriordan/status/785190017828290560
https://twitter.com/liamlallana20/status/785198755989553152
https://twitter.com/pritchxrd_/status/785196421020549120
https://twitter.com/DaveOCKOP/status/785190325979639812
