Eight weeks and four games of purgatory await until the international year concludes with the friendly on November 21 against New Zealand.

It was a tenure that began in November 2018, from the moment John Delaney hatched his brainwave of a succession plan that entailed Kenny spending a year as U21 boss with the guarantee of elevation to succeed Mick McCarthy.

Amid the hail of controversy over their handling of Pauw’s dismissal, the FAI’s latest promise is for Hill to speak after the men’s window concludes against Netherlands on Sunday

Ireland’s manager has hardly been seen and certainly not heard over the summer, taking a well-deserved holiday following a June window tainted by a Greek tragedy in Athens.

It's better to fall in the Autumn than seize up in the Summer, as Irish teams will notice by watching from afar, while what were deemed minnows occupy the platform they've a long way back to sharing.

Here we take a look at these pressing issues, some to be resolved swifter than others but each carrying their own degree of significance within the ecosystem of Irish football.

At their next board meeting on August 29, or before if they are minded to, the FAI have a last supper to consider.

I went for a haircut in Longford recently. It should have been a fairly simple job. On the way I realised I had forgotten my wallet in my other jacket, but as I was nearly in town, I went on. The barber confirmed he only took cash.

Those moralising about the relevance of the breakup of Katie McCabe and Irish teammate Ruesha Littlejohn, and its fallout, ought to recall how their love story first came into the public domain 

Your correspondent has been on the ground doing his utmost to keep up, keep awake and keep ahead in the context of struggling to shake off jetlag from three flights spanning 20 hours in the air.