Stakes are set for a Stockholm showdown

As the olés reverberated across the old Lansdowne Road, a smiling Robbie Keane looked around and took it all in. This, it seemed at the time, had the potential to develop into something great.

After the flaccid ending to the Brian Kerr era, a new leaf was turned. Sweden were swathed aside by a refreshed team in green; Keane wore the armband for the first time, Damien Duff was in stunning form, and Richard Dunne established himself as a first-choice centre-half.

Of course three months later, Sweden ended up going to the World Cup, while Ireland were marked absent, but as the fans filtered home on that bitterly cold spring night, there was a palpable excitement in the air.