Seven years ago, Damian Duff sat down for a chat with thi snewspaper and spoke about how you could feel Lansdowne Road’s creaky old bones shaking from the toilets in the dressing-room as the DART thundered through the West Stand.

Ireland have built a reputation as a team that is bloody difficult to kill off under Giovanni Trapattoni so it was strangely fitting that they should share a hotel yesterday with the man who is best known for starring roles in the ‘Die Hard’ movies.

There was a time when you could all but see the steam rising out of Robbie Keane’s ears at pre-match press conferences.