Ireland's future - the movers and shakers for the Nations League and World Cup
Age waits for nobody and while the hiatus in meaningful Ireland games will offer time for a clutch of players to develop, it will be the enemy for several stalwarts.
There’s nothing but pride on the line for the November 18 visit to Netherlands, after which 10 months passes until the next competitive match in September 2024.
That six-match campaign isn’t even considered qualifiers as the connection of Nations League to reaching major tournaments is only a fallback route and still requires winning two playoff rounds.
It will be 17 months before Ireland are involved in a regulation regular; qualification for the 2026 World Cup begins in March 2025.
As FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill pertinently declared, while affording Stephen Kenny a futile stay to see out his contract as manager, tournaments are imperative for Irish football and the association.
Otherwise that albatross of legacy debt, albeit reduced to €44m, will continue to impair investment in worthy parts of the game.
To end the decade-long major tournament drought, and ensure it’s not the exception, the FAI need a capable new manager and a group of players of suitable talent and experience to bely their seeding.
The sequence of shocks in the current Euro campaign, with Albania, Romania and Turkey well positioned to qualify, and Scotland doing so by beating Spain, illustrate its possibility.
Ireland weren’t rookies when it came to meetings with top seeds France and Netherlands during the failed campaign but as it reaches conclusion have the second-youngest team of all participants.
That average age of 25.6 years old was skewed by the absence of Séamus Coleman for all but the March opener against the French but indicates the changing demographic.
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