Night to savour for debutants

The FAI like to play up the time spent by some of its senior players in the domestic league but the rite of passage for most Republic of Ireland internationals still involves a one-way ticket across the Irish Sea before they possess the right to vote or drink.

When Martin O’Neill’s starting XI was revealed at tea-time yesterday there were only two men making their senior debuts for their country and both had left family and friends behind in Cork for a new life at Sunderland long before their teenage years counted out.

John Egan and Conor Hourihane’s careers may have begun at a Premier League club but their descent down the ladder and climb back up again — as far as the Championship, for now — demonstrate again the graft and persistence that young Irish players need to make it on such a gruelling beat.