Could a Finnish double give Ireland some hope?

Ireland supporters will make the trip to Dublin 4 this evening hoping that the Boys in Green can finally put fears of automatic relegation to bed.

A draw against the Finns would be enough to guarantee third place in the group, while a victory might even give Heimir Hallgrimsson's side a chance of a top-two spot, depending on how things go in Athens later.

If England were to be beaten in Greece, then a victory by three clear goals at Wembley on Sunday would put Ireland into second spot.

Moving away from the dream world and back into a sphere of more achievable goals, a win later would give Ireland a 'double' over a reasonably serious footballing country (sorry Gibraltar) for the first time in seven years.

In the interim period Irish sides have failed to beat some of the giants of the European game twice in the same group, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Luxembourg, and one of our nearest neighbours, Scotland.

Some of the reversals were particularly frustrating.

The points Armenia picked up against Ireland in Yerevan were their only ones they would manage in their campaign, as they lost the other five games - including a 3-2 turnaround in Dublin.

After beating Scotland 3-0 on Lansdowne Road for the zenith of the Kenny era, the Boys in Green then failed to convert an early lead into three points in Glasgow later the same year.

While the 1-0 defeat to Luxembourg was as bad as its gotten for the national side this century, the return fixture was a 3-0 away eight months later.

You have to go back to October 2017 for the last time the Boys in Green managed to beat anyone other than Gibraltar twice in the same group.

Two Daryl Murphy goals helped the then Martin O'Neill-managed side past Moldova 2-0 at the Aviva Stadium, following