Tommy Martin: To unite Irish football, Stephen Kenny must also cherish our past defiance

It would stand to reason that people might begin to lose interest in a team who can only be reliably expected to provide moments of real joy twice or three times a decade. Life is short. You went to Italy in a transit van? Great. We’ve got Netflix and Instagram and electric bicycles now

NET GAINS: Ireland skipper Shane Duffy retrieves the ball after Serbia’s Nikola Milenković scored an own goal during the World Cup 2022 group A qualifier at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Tuesday night. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” F. Scott Fitzgerald might have said had he been among the crowd shuffling happily out of the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

A miraculous goalkeeping stand and a late, exhilarating bombardment. Lansdowne Road shaking in appreciation. An incredulous opposition trudging away, ruefully reckoning it must be true what they say about those fighting Irish, for whom domination does not necessarily mean defeat.