The legacy that Shane Long goal on Ireland's road to Euro 2016

“Germany was a great result,” said Shane Long on the eve of Ireland’s final group qualifying game in Warsaw in October, “but we need to make it mean something— and the only way to make it mean something is to qualify tomorrow night.”

Well, as we know, Ireland lost that battle to Poland but, one month later, they won the war, emerging triumphant from a two-legged play off against Bosnia to finally claim their place, the hard way, at this year’s European Championship showpiece in France.

And by so doing, they ensured that Long’s sensational match-winning goal against Germany at the Aviva Stadium would not only consolidate its claim to being the single greatest Irish sporting moment of 2015 but, to borrow Long’s own phrase, would have the potential to “mean something” even more in 2016, the full truth of which will only become clear in June when Martin O’Neill’s team kick off their Euro finals against Sweden at the Stade de France.