Sense of drift everywhere as Ireland look to Amsterdam

'The mood is good,' said Dara O’Shea. No-one was fooled. The sense of drift sits suffocatingly across this team like a layer of Saharan sand. 

WHAT NOW? Josh Cullen during a Republic of Ireland training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Nine years since John Delaney labelled the League of Ireland as the FAI's “difficult child”, and how things have changed.

Not just for the former CEO. The domestic game remains wedded to an upward swing with the record attendance of 43,881 for last Sunday’s FAI Cup final between St Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians yet another stage in the resurgence.