Fans show true colours as the focus on football

The result could have been better, but at the end of a night which, in the lead-up, presented many questions and fears, it was heartening that leaving Wembley last night, the talk was mostly about events on the pitch.

Immersed in a green smoky haze and a deafening noise, the celebrations after Shane Long’s goal were, without venturing on the hyperbolic, special.

It threatened to become one of those ‘I was there moments’ until Frank Lampard drew level, but for 10 short minutes, Irish fans could party like it was Stuttgart again.