On the eve of Ireland’s friendly defeat in Turkey last Friday, Seamus Coleman conceded that, as the team captain — and a Premier League player to boot — the focus of attention would inevitably be on his welcome in a green shirt after a year out through injury.

No real ‘dawn of a new era’ headlines from Turkey, I’m afraid, as Ireland went down 1-0 on a night which, above all, was a reminder that neither of these teams will be starring in Russia in a few months.

This week in Turkey, they celebrated Nehruz, a festival to mark the coming of spring, the traditional rituals to mark the occasion including jumping over bonfires and tapping eggs.

Officially, the Irish attendance in the Antalya Stadium this evening will be 236 but we can expect the welcome from the little green army to far exceed that number in sheer delight when Seamus Coleman leads the Irish team onto the field of play, just one day short of the first anniversary of the sickening leg break which he suffered against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on March 24 last year.