Ireland will never be a serious football nation again until the State takes the game seriously

The international break ended with a bang, didn’t it? Clearly fed up over having to report on the Welsh revival under Craig Bellamy or the high points of Lee Carsley’s interim spell in charge of England (especially when they don’t have the rights), Sky Sports News breathlessly covered the ‘bombshell’ that Pep Guardiola had signed a new two-year deal with all the gravity one might expect of breaking news on the unexpected death of a head of state.

And by Saturday evening, they altered the narrative to Manchester City being in their first full-blown crisis since the Catalan took over.

Well, the last international break did seem to drag on, especially for those of us on this fair isle. It is only eight days since England’s five second-half goals against Ireland had the likes of Shay Given in the RTÉ studio and Damien Delaney on Virgin Media desperately searching for some positives.

And there were a few, especially in the opening half. Those of us who have wanted to see Nathan Collins used in midfield could feel vindicated by the way he closed down the space that Harry Kane wants to operate in, at least for 45 minutes.

Unfortunately, football games last 90 minutes and what happened in Wembley should serve as a reminder of how far we have fallen.

With the general election campaign entering its final few days, it feels somewhat apt that we had such a recent stark illustration of Ireland’s current lowly place in the world game.

If any football fan has a politician on their doorstep in the coming days, they should all ask questions about their plans to get the game properly funded in this country because it has not been for decades.

The bleak fact is Ireland will continue to tumble down the FIFA rankings until a functioning industry around the game is established in this country.

The outgoing government could find enough cash to fund greyhound racing to the tune of almost €100 million during its time in office. Imagine what that sort of money would do for academies in League of Ireland clubs. And the economic benefit of football far outweighs the dogs.

While we all enjoyed Ireland’s young guns taking apart Fiji on Saturday afternoon, it remains true that no sporting team can unite the nation like the football side.

However, the sad reality is that we will never be a serious football nation again until the State takes the game seriously. And that is what people should be saying on the doorsteps.

The national mood is never as upbeat as when Ireland are in a major tournament – there is an economic theory out there that Euro 88 and Italia ’90 were the spark for the Celtic Tiger, as seeing the team perform so well on the global stage allowed us, as a people, to feel more confident about ourselves. It’s no harm to remind politicians of that power within the game.

For those of us switched off from the international break after Conor Gallagher grabbed England’s third on Sunday, there were plenty of stories that were missed.

Sudan’s remarkable qualification for AFCON against the backdrop of a vicious Civil War that has been shamefully under-reported is one of the sporting stories of the year, an extraordinary achievement for the war-torn nation that has not had a domestic league for a couple of years.

There was San Marino, once known as the worst team in the world, showing everyone the true worth of the Nations League by claiming their first away win in history – a 3-1 victory in Liechtenstein – and promotion to League C.

In this part of the world, the story has been Wales. Surely, there is something that we can learn in how they are consistently punching above their weight and how Bellamy has made them more than the sum of their parts, just like we used to be.

Granted, their elevation to League A was fortunate in that they benefited from Turkey’s shock defeat in Montenegro. But the Welsh still put themselves in that position. They made their own luck.

When was the last time an Irish team did that? FAI officials will be in Cardiff this week for the first leg of the Euro 2025 play-off and they could do worse than pick the brains of their Welsh counterparts.

Perhaps, last Sunday in Wembley can now be the starting point that proves how bad things are, what decades of neglect have caused with solutions needing to be found yesterday in a post- Brexit world.

Of course, the fact that so many English players who starred in the 5-0 win had Irish ancestry points to another issue. Ireland can no longer depend on second or third-generation players.

In another world, it is possible to imagine Conor Gallagher as the heir apparent to Andy Townsend, a workaholic midfielder buzzing from box to box in an Irish shirt. But not anymore.

The English FA work early to ensure the loyalty of any half-decent young player. The days of the likes of Townsend declaring for Ireland are in the past, another layer to this issue along with Brexit closing off the traditional environment where Irish footballers get nurtured – English clubs.

It has been a chastening couple of weeks for Heimir Hallgrímsson. While he has impressed as a communicator and the way he set up the team in the first half at Wembley was certainly encouraging, he must now understand the extent of the job in front of him.

Thankfully, there are four months before the next international break, plenty of time for the Irish players to wash the England defeat out of their system and for all of us to get distracted by the unrelenting soap opera across the sea.

But in this week of all weeks, there should be an understanding that Irish football is not going to get any better unless everyone works together – and there is the political will. With so many of the parties specifically mentioning the game in their manifestoes, there is an acceptance that something has to be done.

Or else, we will start to approach every international window with dread.