Future looking clearer as Ireland have 'no fear' of England encounter

After Thursday night's 1-0 victory over Finland, Ireland can start planning for 2025 with a Nations League play-off to negotiate ahead of the vital World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign.

Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side avoided automatic relegation to League C, however, their second-tier berth is not yet secured, and Ireland will have to negotiate a two-legged play-off to maintain their status for the next edition of the competition.

That particular contest has been scheduled to kick off the next calendar year and will take up the international window in March, which means that the World Cup qualifiers cannot begin before June at the earliest.

All will be revealed at next month’s draw, which takes place in Zurich on 13 December, and will place Ireland in a group of either four or five teams, with the winner securing safe passage to the USA-Canada-Mexico co-hosted tournament.

Permutations point to a four-team group, which would see Ireland in a six-game shootout, not too dissimilar to the current Nations League format.

The manager admitted following the Finland game, and with England to prepare for, that he hasn’t given it enough thought as to where his preferences lie in terms of the vital World Cup games, but he did acknowledge that Ireland are traditionally not great in June.

"I haven't given it enough thought," said Hallgrimsson, speaking to the media after the game at Aviva Stadium.

"We just need to focus on what will happen, but now we will probably have two games home and away in March and two qualifiers in June if we have a group of five.

"June is always difficult for Ireland because we have so many players in the Championship finishing early May, and that's a long spell without games.

"Maybe playing one game in March and one game