Paul Rouse: The most gutting feeling in sport is when opportunity slips away

Paradise lost but the Irish team has remade a frayed connection.

Ireland’s Seamus Coleman dejected after the playoff defeat. Pic ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Twice Ireland put themselves in the box seat in Prague; twice they got dislodged. When you lead a game 2-0 and then are ahead again after three penalties are taken in a shootout, it is legitimate to expect to win.

And inevitable then after a cruel twist of the knife to feel in defeat that this was one that got away.