Heimir Hallgrímsson's Ireland 'trying to take correct steps to continue growing'

While the Irish FA have offered refunds to fans opting out of their wooden spoon contest in Wales, it’s the FAI’s belief that at least 30,000 seats of the capacity 51,000 purchased in advance on Thursday will show up.

MOVING ON: Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson during a Republic of Ireland men's training session. Pic:  Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

After a misstep of major magnitude comes the next minor step towards arriving at big ones again.

Ireland’s history against Macedonia is such that the worst trainer during Mick McCarthy’s camps was forced to don at the next session the orange jersey discarded following the infamous 3-2 defeat in 1997.