One generation giving way to another? You’d imagine so

There was just over an hour gone when Coleman’s number came up and he trotted briskly down the line. There was no fuss as the stadium rose to its feet. Typical of the man.

LEGENDARY STATUS: Seamus Coleman of Republic of Ireland waves to supporters. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Hats off to the stall sellers for the half-and-half scarves. That they turned them around in such a short time between Prague on Thursday night and this most aggravating of friendlies was a feat of manufacturing and habit all in itself.

It was, if nothing else, an act of blind hope on a night when all had already been lost.

That the sellers bothered at all was admirable, but then a game that nobody wanted to play after respective World Cup playoff disappointments last Thursday probably deserved the apparel that nobody in their right mind, or above the age of 12, should wear.

Business can’t have been all that brisk.

The pubs and restaurants around Ballsbridge and Beggars Bush were absent of the hoped-for colour and noise as the end of Dublin’s working day turned in to tea time and beyond. It was impossible not to think of Prague’s Old Town Square and wonder ‘what if’.

This could have been one of Irish football’s great days. It should have kicked off with the potential to be one of Irish football’s great days. Nobody needed reminding why that wasn’t the case and yet it was all anyone could talk about.

North Macedonia? Not even an afterthought.

Ryan Manning’s tug of the shirt, the two shots off the post, Troy’s saved header, the missed penos. Shakes of the head all round. There was a sense here of people coming not so much to another football match as a mass meeting of damaged souls and dashed dreams.

The deeper discussions had already been rolled out in print, online, on the airwaves and in homes and offices. Ireland’s ‘failure’ to practise penalties and the absence of a sports psychologist had both been dissected to death.

Valid points, but ‘answers’ served up on the back of razor-thin margins.

An equaliser conceded four minutes from time. A shootout lost 4-3. Strip it all back and Ireland were a headed clearance or maybe just a successful Finn Azaz penalty from the bandwagon rolling on here to the Aviva. None of which was any comfort.

Still, if this was a difficult night for Ireland then spare a thought for the opposition.

The distance between Skopje and Copenhagen, where North Macedonia lost their playoff semi-final 4-0 last week, is over 2,000 kilometres. The journey from Skopje to Dublin is that plus another 1,000 kilometres again. Oil crisis? What oil crisis?

The headline on the telegrafi website read ‘Debacle in Copenhagen, Macedonia defeated by Denmark’ after their 4-0 loss in Denmark. 

Rangers’ Bojan Miovski and Lokomotiva Zagreb’s Aleksandar Trajkovski, annoyed at a lack of game time, had both been allowed leave camp.

Punishment and act of mercy all in one.

More again stayed away. Empty green seats were dotted around the Aviva here but not as many as might have been expected. ‘Believe’, said one Tricolour hanging from the upper tier. A declared crowd of 39,560 clearly still did.

Heimir Hallgrimsson had framed this as the start of something rather than the end. This was where Ireland’s Euro 2028 bid would be launched, he said, and he backed it up with a starting XI that disappointed anyone looking for something different.

No Bosun Lawal, James Abankwah or Harvey Vale. Patience, lads.

Ireland's James Abankwah and Seamus Coleman. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

The vibes and the back-channel information highways suggested that it would be Seamus Coleman’s last game in green. So did the sight of his three kids standing before him as the teams lined up for the pre-match anthems. Was that the germ of a tear we saw?

There was just over an hour gone when Coleman’s number came up and he trotted briskly down the line. There was no fuss as the stadium rose to its feet, just a brief clasp of hands with James Abankwah as the young Waterford player came on for his debut. Typical of the man.

One generation giving way to another? You’d imagine so.

Abankwah was just seven years of age when Coleman made his own bow against Wales in the Carling Nations Cup with Ireland. His impact across the next 15 years has been immeasurable. It was an influence that only magnified in this latest campaign.

Coleman’s return to Hallgrimsson’s squad coincided with the team’s upsurge in fortunes after a shocking defeat in Yerevan in September and, while the campaign ended in tears, there is still an air of renewal about the squad.

That Abankwah and Lawal should have come on for their first acts as he was leaving the scene only feeds into the idea of regeneration. Vale, with a handful of minutes to his name from the Czechia game, was ushered on at the same time.

In Troy Parrott, the side already has a player to take on the role of talisman in the event of Coleman’s absence. 

Hallgrimsson said of  Coleman's international future post-match: “We had a good talk and we want him to go as long as he can. Our desire is to keep him for a long, long time. He is good to help the young players to grow. He is a good player. Why should he retire?"

A core of key players are entering their prime. Crumbs of comfort, seeds of optimism, on a night that ended with a 0-0 draw with North Macedonia.