This was far from a perfect performance but Robbie Brady turned the clock back for a winner that Irish football badly needs. He emptied himself in Zatopek fashion
There are plenty - including the editors of Runner's World magazine - who think Emil Zatopek was the greatest athlete of all. When they produced a special issue on the all-time greats, they ranked him ahead of the likes of Jesse Owens and Usain Bolt.
Zatopek's response was to shift through the gears and disappear over the horizon. Peters ended up dropping out. The Czech's goal every day was the same - race so hard that you forget the colour of the sky. When he stood on the starting line for races, he'd always say the same thing to those beside him - 'men, today we die a little'.
Glenn Whelan was part of the coaching set-up for the friendlies earlier in the year and surely his words last month on Virgin Media stung plenty in the squad. The proof of that only comes when you're up against it, and we hadn't even reached the midway point of the first half before that was the case.
Ireland will rightly think they were denied an equaliser when Evan Ferguson's goal was ruled out, but there was a weirdly lethargic feel to their play. Athletes rarely post personal best times at major championships. Again, that's down to pressure. What's the difference between taking the second kick in a penalty shoot-out or the first or fifth one? The pressure.
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