Serbs deliver rude but useful wake-up call

If you could cash a reality check you’d be up to your eyeballs in folding stuff this weekend.

The phrase has become the new buzzword in Irish football, with the sobering effect of the Euro 2016 draw in Nice two weeks ago only intensified by the somewhat alarming manner in which Serbia ultimately eased to a 2-1 victory in Dublin on Wednesday night.

Mind you, said reality check will only have come as a complete surprise to those who assumed that (a) everything that ailed the national team was the fault of Giovanni Trapattoni and that (b) everything that ailed the national team would be cured overnight by Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.