Friendly fire can't dictate what happens next with Ireland job

The FAI must make their decision on a new boss on criteria wider than these two friendlies.

Ireland interim head coach John O'Shea and his players applaud supporters. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Switzerland, a country so diplomatic it was able to stay neutral as two world wars raged around it, has made for an unlikely bête noir. Then again, this is very much a modern phenomenon as dysfunctional relationships go.

The first time ‘Ireland’ played a senior game after dropping the pretence that was the ‘Irish Free State’ was a 1-0 win against the Swiss at Dalymount Park in 1936, and the Boys in Green had the better of the arrangement through the 20th century.