Not quite moral victory of old but draw offers hope for future

Not a result that will go down in history but one that should offer optimism for the future.

While this friendly didn’t exactly offer enough fire or excitement for the fixture to be played more often than every 18 years, it’s difficult to be negative about a 1-1 draw away to one of the globe’s better nations — whatever the endless hype about England’s true level. A new Irish team, however, are beginning to find theirs.

As a consequence of Roy Hodgson’s aversion to possession and playing through the middle, England can often resemble a higher-quality version of Ireland 2008-11. Giovanni Trapattoni has started to move on from that template through the introduction of this brand new core but, given how few games they’ve played together at this point, some gaps in the make-up are inevitable and understandable.