Ref generosity served us well — to a point

Just about five minutes in, David Meyler had gone in hard on Joe Allen and over 51,000 sets of eyeballs zeroed in on the Italian dressed in black.

Nicola Rizzoli hadn’t merited too many column inches in a week dominated by Gareth Bale and absent Irish players but the Bologna architect was about to set the tone for the evening. The whistle stayed around his chest and, with that, Ireland’s chances took a great, big turn for the better.