Martin O’Neill: I don’t think anything has surprised me in the group

Martin O’Neill had told us to keep the faith and events last night, in Dublin, Vienna, and elsewhere besides, will have secured no small number of converts as the Republic of Ireland push for Russia’s promised land.

Ireland taking care of business was the limit of most horizons as O’Neill’s side kicked-off against Moldova, not least with Wales having eked out a 1-0 win in Georgia earlier, but that was before Austria went and drew Serbia into the last-ditch scramble out of Group D.

The permutations will still take up much of the weekend and most of Monday until Wales and Ireland set to in Cardiff, but the mood is far more buoyant than before, though the need to win in the Welsh capital remains the one unalterable.