Four years on, Stephen Ward and Ireland are in a better place

Forget the geographical distance or the four years that separate the side’s final appearances at two consecutive European Championships, the boys in green have travelled much further metaphorically.

One of the many heavily criticised for his displays in Poland in 2012, Stephen Ward sat out the opener this time against Sweden, had an iffy afternoon against Belgium in Bordeaux but ended the tournament in credit after fine displays against Italy and France.

In that, his experiences here in France mirror the team’s in many ways in that he was impressive at times and rocky at others, but both player and squad find themselves in much better places than four years ago.