End of pain, end of an era

And so it ends, not with a bang, but not exactly with a whimper either.

Indeed, Ireland could hardly have been involved in a more dramatic final couple of minutes to their Euro 2012 campaign.

Pressing for the goal and the point which would have given them something tangible on the table to take away from an otherwise forgettable experience, their fragile world collapsed again with, first, Keith Andrews being harshly booked for dissent — a second yellow card offence which sent him raging to the line — and then, right on the stroke of full-time, Mario Balotelli grabbing an acrobatic goal to double Italy’s advantage.