In era of indifference, Irish public has rarely felt so disengaged with its national team

Heimir Hallgrimsson's side travel to Finland knowing they're in a bad place after seven years where the country has been starved of glorious moments 

TO FINN JUST ONCE: Players, from left, Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Kasey McAteer and Festy Ebosele during a Republic of Ireland training session at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

‘So… easy to analyse but difficult to play against.’ Heimir Hallgrimsson's summation last week of what may await his Ireland team in Helsinki hit the ears and was instantly catchy. In it there was praise yet a feint too, a little Nordic dig in the ribs to go with the admiration.

But it rang around the head and lingered for another reason: Could it be the perfect inverse of what they were thinking, if not saying, in Finland? The national team which Hallgrimsson appears to belatedly have taken actual command of shape up in opposition eyes and minds as difficult to analyse but bloody easy to play against.