Martin O’Neill: We can only control what’s put in front of us

If this stellar weekend for Irish sport was Live Aid, then Gibraltar versus Ireland would be Status Quo — bottom of the bill, and everyone knows what to expect.

Or so the conventional wisdom has it. Irish squads have been out here in the Algarve twice in the last 10 years for warm-weather training camps, first under Steve Staunton and then Giovanni Trapattoni, and as the sun shines down as usual on late summer holiday-makers, it can be hard to get it into your head — especially given the lowly status of tonight’s opposition in the Estadio Algarve — that this latest excursion to Portugal’s sunny Atlantic coast is anything much more competitive.

Yet, the fact remains the three points at stake here this evening are as valid as any others in European Championship qualifying and, moreover, depending on the results of tonight’s game in tandem with those elsewhere in the group, could even turn out to be of considerable significance in resuscitating Ireland’s chances of making it to the finals in France next year.