TUESDAY 11 JUNE
Portugal v Republic of Ireland Tuesday 7.45pm, Estadio Municipal de Aveiro
TV
Watch on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player from 7pm
ONLINE
Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News App.
RADIO
Commentary on RTÉ Radio One Extra from 7.40pm
WEATHER
It's expected to be sunny in the west-coast city on Tuesday, with highs of 22 degrees. Pack a jumper if you're travelling, as a moderate breeze is expected in the evening.
IRELAND BRING AN END TO A SEASON DOMINATED BY A MANAGER SEARCH
If an international season is viewed as running from August to June, then most people involved with Irish football will be glad to see the back of 2023/24.
Supporters are sick of the prolonged manager search, the FAI are fed-up of providing empty updates on said search, and the Republic of Ireland players and staff are likely looking forward to getting this meaningless international window over and done with.
Last week's win over Hungary and Tuesday's encounter with Portugal would be a lot more meaningful if the man in the Ireland dugout could take any learnings into the next UEFA Nations League campaign, which begins in September.
As it is, the match will see John O'Shea take charge of Ireland for the fourth time, and it speaks volumes that neither he, nor anyone else, knows if this will be his last game at the helm.
Looming on the horizon in the autumn is a group containing England, Greece and Finland, and this June window would have been the perfect opportunity for O'Shea, Slaven Bilic, Anthony Hudson or insert-candidate's-name-here, to analyse the squad and try out some new ideas before the more serious stuff begins.
Instead, O'Shea has taken the pragmatic approach in search of results that might help him get the permanent gig. See his
soccer
Republic of Ireland
international soccer
Sport
Anthony Hudson