Michael Sadlier

Any capacity for the merest sliver of doubt surrounding this result had long since taken its leave of the stadium when La Marseillaise began to ring round the place.

At times he sat with head bowed, the relative sanctity of the team bus awaiting and a quick spin to the airport and out that night from this place.

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For quite a while this felt far too edgy with Ireland having shipped some unexpected shots from the Brave Blossoms which hadn’t been casually brushed off but had actually resulted in some deep bruising.

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