Too soon to determine whether happy days are here again, but last night in Vilnius was a throwback to a rosier soccer era. In beating Lithuania by two goals to one, the Republic of Ireland ensured that its World Cup qualifying ambitions remained alive.
It was a night of little beauty but many heroes. The great grey veteran of the side, Tony Cascarino, sandwiched two remarkable goals around the home side's solitary score. The final whistle had scarcely sounded when the Irish were heading triumphantly towards the airport, celebrating a week-long adventure which saw them seize unlikely wins in both Iceland and Lithuania.
They were in the departure lounge before they fully absorbed the implications. Ireland now play Romania at Lansdowne Road on October 11th and only a defeat of truly freakish proportions can prevent them from advancing to a two-legged play-off against another second-placed side for the right to compete in next summer's World Cup finals.
"It was a heroic performance," said manager Mick McCarthy. "Not easy, but it never is. These are the places where you earn your stripes. You come out with one stripe and you go back with three. That's what we've done."
McCarthy's mix of battle-scarred ancients and feisty young recruits have thus arrived at precisely where they set out for.
Yet as a means of getting from A to B, the Irish team's route to the play-offs has had more digressions and unforeseen hazards than most guidebooks would recommend.
It was the second goal from Cascarino that made the difference in the end. The big man had got his 35-year-old big toe on to the end of a headed pass from Roy Keane in the first half and watched the ball bobble through the cratered goal-mouth and into the gaping Lithuanian net.
Ireland were pinned back into their own territory early in the second half, however, as the Lithuanians poured forward in search of the equalising score which would keep their own campaign alive. That duly arrived in the 51st minute when the full back Tomas Ziukas hit a meaty volley from the edge of the Irish area to the net.
As goals go, the winning score owed more to training ground plotting than big match inspiration - Cascarino meeting a free kick with a looping header which dropped behind the home defence for the winning score.
It wasn't pretty to watch. Mick McCarthy's team is very much a work in progress. The flawless execution of any plan is a bonus for this young inchoate side and to have plundered six points from their final two away games of the campaign is a considerable coup.
If the flashes of genius were missing last night, nobody was much inclined to care. There was enough of the old passion to please the most trenchant begrudgers. "It was a win," said McCarthy. "That's what we came for. They deserve all the credit they are going to get."
McCarthy wore the face of a man who gets to spin the wheel for the jackpot at the end of the show. The odds are still long, but the prize is huge and shining and in sight. The draw for the play-offs between the second-placed sides in the European qualifying groups will be staged in Zurich on October 13th after the final round of group matches. The play-off games will be held on October 29th and November 15th.
Last night the future looked brighter than the past. It was raining in Vilnius, and the wind was kicking up the leaves. Heavy weather getting here, heavy weather leaving. Nobody cared.