Once in a lifetime chances

You are witness to an unprecedented experiment in sports journalism here this morning — if not quite a match report written before the match then something not too far off it.

As I type, there are still more than seven hours to go to kick-off in the Gibraltar-Ireland game at the Estadio Algarve. All this and I have dared to choose as the theme for my column: the eternal allure of David v Goliath.

Of course, by the time you read these words, you will know if, against all known odds, the Rockies have somehow managed to write their names into that exclusive strand of football history and, if they have completed that mission impossible, well, all I can say is that not only will this column self-destruct in five seconds but so, in all probability, will Martin O’Neill, Roy Keane, and anyone and everything in their immediate vicinity.