Hamann: Ireland now run by winners

Drawing Germany in the Euro qualifiers sent a few shivers down Irish spines still bent under the weight of that humiliating 6-1 World Cup defeat in Dublin in October 2012.

But now comes comfort from an unlikely source — a former German international who is convinced Ireland can grab an automatic qualifying place for France 2016 and who, furthermore, can’t see another collapse against his own country happening under the watch of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.

“Well, I was at the game that ended 6-1, and you can’t get beat like this, regardless,” says former Liverpool midfielder-turned-television pundit, Dietmar Hamann.