Ah here. The Republic of Ireland have drawn three previous winners of the European Championships in a certifiable pool of death.
No other way to dress this up. Irish manager Stephen Kenny could not have picked a tougher qualification route to Germany 2024 if he tried as his young side must somehow find a way around the Netherlands, France, Greece – winners in 1988, 1984, 2000, 2004 – and Gibraltar.
“No doubt it is a tough draw,” said Kenny, fully aware that luck has completely abandoned his time in the big job. “Nobody wanted France as a second seed, I think that is fair to say, and Greece are a good team.
“But we have shown a capacity to get good results against Portugal, Serbia, Scotland and Belgium this year. You can see the improvement in the team and the capacity to score goals.”
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Kenny, understandably, glossed over the three goals conceded against Armenia in 2022.
“We just need to pick off big results. We will have to do something extraordinary to finish in the top two but that is our intention.”
As Ireland tumbled from Pot 3 into Group B an audible moan filled the Festhalle in Frankfurt. Even Giorgio Marchetti – Uefa deputy general secretary – and Jürgen Klinsmann offered instant pity to the FAI delegation as 10 groups were decided for 20 qualifiers to join hosts Germany at the finals, beginning in Munich on June 14th 2024 and ending at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on July 14th.
Ireland are already odds-on to fill one of the three remaining slots at the 24 team tournament via a play off in March 2024. This back door to the big show is based on Nations League rankings, so this year’s abysmal results against Armenia and Ukraine could come back to haunt Kenny’s team.
However, the playoffs remain a lifeline for Irish football to cling to.
Undimmed by the challenge, Kenny leant into the need to turn the Aviva into a “fortress”.
“We are looking forward to big games in Dublin next year,” he said. “We have shown we can get results at the Aviva Stadium. It is a big challenge there is no doubt about that.”
At least the Irish fans will embrace Group B odysseys to Athens, Amsterdam, Paris and Gibraltar, the scene in 2019 of John Delaney’s first and penultimate match as Executive Vice President of the FAI.
“Greece are strong as well so teams will take points off each other. We just need to get ourselves ready. They won their [Nations League] group and have had some good recent results, they beat Northern Ireland twice.
“I don’t mind getting a strong fourth seed because teams will take points off each other.
“We just got to maximise our own performances.”
The sight of German manager Hansi Flick in the Group B mixed zone hinted at Uefa dropping the hosts into Ireland’s qualifier windows, to play competitive friendlies, much like Fifa did with Qatar.
They might as well at this stage.
“I think we are capable of big performances but we haven’t show it consistently,” Kenny continued. “We have to show we can do it consistently. That’s what we are building towards.”
Elsewhere, England and Italy will renew acquaintances in Group C, having played each other three times in the last 16 months, along with Ukraine, the only other third seeds to be cursed by a savagely difficult draw.
But the Netherlands, France and Greece takes the biscuit. A devilishly tricky road lies ahead.
“It our big dream to get to the Euros. The draw hasn’t been kind to us but that’s life, you got to take what is thrown at you.”
The final draw is as follows:
GROUP A: Spain Scotland Norway Georgia Cyprus
GROUP B: Netherlands France Ireland Greece Gibraltar
GROUP C: Italy England Ukraine North Macedonia Malta
GROUP D: Croatia Wales Armenia Turkey Latvia
GROUP E: Poland Czechia Albania Faroe Islands Moldova
GROUP F: Belgium Austria Sweden Azerbaijan Estonia
GROUP G: Hungary Serbia Montenegro Bulgaria Lithuania
GROUP H: Denmark Finland Slovakia Kazakhstan Northern Ireland San Marino
GROUP I: Switzerland Israel Romania Kosovo Belarus Andorra
GROUP J: Portugal Bosnia & Herzegovina Iceland Luxembourg Slovakia Liechtenstein
