Ireland need a minor miracle tonight

For Ireland to get something out of tonight’s game against Germany at the Aviva Stadium will require nothing less than a minor miracle, in my opinion.

With their players finding themselves again, Germany have hit form after an indifferent start to the campaign, brought on by what was an almost-inevitable World Cup hangover. Also, the fact that Ireland are missing a few key players only adds to my feeling of pessimism about this side’s ability to pick up a point tonight. Nor would I be confident that we could do so in Warsaw on Sunday.

In short, I really believe that Ireland’s best chance of getting a play-off place hinges on Scotland failing to get anything out of their match with Poland tonight.