Ireland’s glass is actually half full, not half empty

En route to an audience with Robbie Keane in Crumlin the other day, the journey down the Long Mile Road and past the Half-Way House offered a handy metaphor for where Ireland are at in their Euro 2020 campaign.

With four games gone and four to go, summer allows for a well-earned pit stop before this group of two distinct halves resumes in September. With Switzerland still to be played home and away, yet another long haul to Tblisi to be negotiated and, on the final night, our old friends the Danes back in town, it’s clear that the second leg of this journey will present a much more formidable obstacle course than the first.