Time to forget Kerr-fuffle and get job Dunne

IF Ireland fail to get three points at Lansdowne Road tomorrow night, many will wonder why we were so caught up in the idea of rearranging deck chairs while the Titanic was sinking.

For more than a week now, the country's World Cup fate has somehow slipped into the obscurity of sub-plot status with the Brian Kerr-FAI deadlock spreading like a virus all over the sports pages.

At yesterday's player press conference in Portmarnock, seven and a half minutes elapsed before the word 'Switzerland' was mentioned.