Long way to go for Ireland

The backdrop to last night’s events in Dublin had been a negative one, despite the Stockholm result, focused as it was on past defeats to Austria who have found encounters with Ireland, more often than not, to their liking.

Jack Charlton’s Harry Ramsden Challenge and the 3-1 defeat at Lansdowne Road in 1995 was dusted off for a re-airing this past few days while the 6-0 defeat in Linz 42 years ago had also been unearthed for a younger generation.

Few bothered to resurrect the meeting in Dublin in 1963 for omens of a more upbeat variety. A 3-2 win at Dalymount Park in the old European Nations Cup, it still stands as the last time the Austrians have been bettered by the Republic.