At any other point in the last four years, it would have been ridiculous. On Friday though, it will be entirely relevant: Giovanni Trapattoni could do with following Steve Staunton’s example.

ON Tuesday evening in the Aviva, a couple of us were toying with the idea of writing up our match reports before the game kicked-off, just to see if second-guessing Trapattoni’s Ireland is as easy as many folk think.