AT HALF-TIME, sprinklers suddenly emerged from the turf and doused everyone in their range as they rotated.
Curiously, they only appeared on the half of the pitch where Ireland’s substitutes were going through their paces.
Ordinarily, you might suspect dirty tricks but, here, you wondered if it was on Heimir Hallgrímsson’s orders.
And if they needed waking up then what about the players who had actually been on the pitch during the opening 45 minutes?
Presumably, they were being water-boarded in the dressing room.
During the warm-up, the Ireland boss had gone over to the Ireland fans who were in one corner of the ground and graciously accepted the birthday card which was thrust in his direction.
If only his players had gone to the same effort to mark the occasion of his 58th birthday.
Instead, they turned in a display which suggested they were more concerned with making sure they had everything packed for their end-of-season holidays.
All that was lacking was Alice Cooper in the stadium singing ‘school’s out for summer’.
Let’s just thank our blessings once again that our World Cup qualifying campaign does not begin until September.
Because had a journey with North America with its intended destination been due to start in this window, we would not have managed to reverse out of the driveway.
A glance towards the touchline, where Hallgrímsson was wearing black trousers, a black jumper with the white collar of his shirt peaking out may have had the players already dreaming of their first pint.
If he had not anticipated the sort of performance he got from his team, then clearly whoever was doing the formation graphic for UEFA had not got a notion of what to expect.
It is safe to say that they were the only person who envisaged seeing Troy Parrott at right-back, Will Smallbone at centre-half, Evan Ferguson in midfield and a strikeforce of Killian Phillips and Nathan Collins.
But maybe they were onto something because that could scarcely have been less cohesive than what was served up with players in more orthodox roles.
Hallgrimsson had allowed journalists to stay for the entire eve-of-match training session which gave more of an insight into the team he might pick than we might otherwise get.
Whilst Max O’Leary starting ahead of Caoimhín Kelleher was not predicted, and Liam Scales was viewed as a likely starter, the rest of the XI was along expected lines.
That saw Killian Phillips making his first international start, just four days after an encouraging outing off the bench on his debut.
At 6ft 2in, with his socks hanging around his angles, he had all the look of a Gaelic footballer. Unfortunately it was his appearance rather than his performance which was striking.
After a half-hour he was moved onto the left with Will Smallbone taking on his central role but, by the hour mark, both had been replaced by Festy Ebosele and Jack Taylor.
Bar O’Leary – who made a fine save from Danel Sinani – no player could have had any complaint had they been hauled ashore.
This was a game in which Jason Knight was named player of the match when his most memorable moment was to stick his leg out to deflect a shot. Sometimes, there just is no worthy candidate.
LUXEMBOURG PROTESTS
Presumably, the only player feeling less comfortable than those in white was Luxembourg striker Gerson Rodrigues.
He scored the only goal when his side claimed a shock win over Ireland in Dublin in March 2021 but that is not why he was being booed by the visiting fans, along with a section of the home crowd.
His continued selection despite his conviction on three assault and battery charges – including one against his former girlfriend – has drawn sharp criticism.
There were several banners in the stand protesting against his presence on the pitch. One said ‘red card to violence against women’, another read ‘football is political’.
A group of around 30 home fans held up red cards and they found common cause with the 360 Ireland supporters who booed his every touch.
But they would have hoped, and expected, to have had more to cheer about against a team ranked 91st in the world, on paper the worst opposition Ireland had faced in Hallgrímsson’s 10 matches in charge.
Most people are willing to accept Hallgrímsson’s point that Ireland will not dominate possession in a lot of the games they play.
This, however, was one where it was not unreasonable to think that Ireland would have the lion’s share of the ball.
Instead, it was the proverbial hot potato with Ireland gifting possession to the hosts with alarming regularity.
Their inability to retain the ball meant they found it next to impossible to carve out any opportunities with their only chance in the first half resulting from a set-piece when Collins hit the post with a header after Dara O’Shea had helped on Smallbone’s free-kick.
There was an improvement, of sorts, after the break.
Ryan Manning – who had come on for the injured Robbie Brady in the first half – sent in a good deep cross from the left with Kasey McAteer sent back across goal but Parrott could not finish and ended up handling the ball.
Taylor and Ebosele provided a bit more than the players they had replaced with Adam Idah then thrown on for Ferguson whose 75 minutes summed up what has been a difficult season for him.
Nobody could find a winner, though Idah tried his luck with an overhead kick before Taylor later cannoned a shot off the underside of the bar.
But, then, this was the sort of game which probably did not deserve one. Whether the players’ holidays were earned is open for debate but they certainly looked as though they needed them.
