The chess boards in the team hotel have helped the Irish players to pass a few of the long hours between training out in leafy, quiet Versailles.

On Saturday night, they returned to their refuge in the old monarchist’s town and tried to clear their minds after experience a torrent of attacking football from Belgium.

What happened on Saturday was relentless and conclusive: the Republic of Ireland were arguably lucky to get off the field with a 3-0 loss while the noisy, lovable travelling army of Irish fans got drenched, drunk and drubbed in Bordeaux.

Long before the final whistle, with Belgium operating in cruise control and at the behest of Kevin de Bruyne’s quicksilver touch, Martin O’Neill must have had time to consider his next best move in a game of limited options.

Blue bloods

The task for O’Neill and Ireland is simple: beat the blue bloods of the European game, who are already through with two economic, no-fuss wins out of two. Italy’s coach Antonio Conte is certain to rest the majority of his starting XI and that quirk of luck might offer the Irish some glimmer of hope. “I am not responsible for anything Italy might think or do,” said a terse O’Neill after Saturday’s final whistle.

“I think they will finish top of the group. We have to win the game and that can be our only thought. We just throw absolutely everything into trying to win a game.”

It is pointless chiding the Irish collective for being something other than what they are: a relatively ordinary football team. For sure, there is magic in Wes Hoolahan’s feet but on Saturday he was a like grommet surfer tossed about in a volatile swell of speed and currents which he had never experienced before.

Jeff Hendrick tried to be positive with the ball but more often than not, Ireland’s playmakers, penned in by Belgium’s high pressing formation, had no option but to punt the ball forward towards the ghost of Jon Walters.

Shane Long had the day’s most thankless role and was battered for his trouble by Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.

Maybe, maybe the penalty claim dismissed by Cüneyt Cakir could have changed the narrative and professional clumsiness – a foul, in other words – by Ciaran Clark would have been the better option as de Bruyne swept forward for Romelu Lukaku’s final goal.

But this is just grasping at straws. O’Neill can change the pieces for the Italy assignment but he is still going to be left with the same jigsaw.

Ireland’s two performances against Germany in the qualifying campaign made it appear that their blend of defiance and stickiness made them a tough assignment for teams with mercurial and superior paper talent. From the first whistle, the Belgians set about disproving that.

Freezing night

O’Neill does not have the same material to work with. Whereas he began to shape this Irish team in a friendly match on a freezing night in Poland, the origins of Belgium’s prized generation can be traced back to the root and branch reforms of the domestic game back in 2000.

On the night of the Sweden game, O’Neill seemed justified in noting that Ireland now looked “accomplished”. The dazzling build-up to Axel Witsel’s second goal made that seem like wishful thinking.

“The disappointment was to do with the fact that when we had the ball we gave it away so easily – in total contrast to the game against Sweden. When you give it away as cheaply, as we did, it is coming back more quickly than you are hoping for. You can start to feel sorry for yourself and commiserate with your team-mates and feel as if it is gone or you take some self-confidence from how you played three of four days ago.

“You have to push it to the side – it is not that easy as a manager. But you appraise it and set it aside.”

What that effectively means is airbrushing the shortcomings exposed by Belgium from memory as the team sets about preparing for Italy. They will, at least, come out fighting.

But as the Irish fans head north to Flanders country, there is no escaping the fact that in European championships, it has been all downhill for the Irish since Ray Houghton’s immortal goal gave Ireland its first win on its first appearance out.

The need for a second victory has never been more urgent if the Irish are to avoid another checkmate.