Two could go into one!

FOR at least one day later this month, the disappointment of failure to qualify for next summer’s World Cup finals will be put aside for Irish football fans as they train their attention instead on the qualifying campaign for the 2008 European Championships.

In football, as in life, hope has a way of springing eternal but, given that the Irish are mere fourth seeds, the draw in Montreaux, Switzerland on Friday, January 27, is set to bring as much pain as pleasure.

President David Blood and chief executive John Delaney will head the Irish delegation at the event but right now it seems highly unlikely that they will be accompanied by the manager whose job it will be to scale the Alpine heights of qualification.