Helsinki next chance to break disturbing losing habit

The Republic of Ireland's first loss of many in this decade occurred against Finland four years and one month ago.

That game offered the first heart-sinking sign that the Stephen Kenny era was not going to deliver on its revolutionary promise.

The Finns had never beaten Ireland before in international football, though they looked worryingly superior in this game, with the muscular Teemu Pukki far more potent than anything the hosts had to offer. Substitute Fredric Jensen slid in at the back post to score the only goal and it took a couple of fine saves from Darren Randolph to keep the score down.

Four years on and the Irish football family have gotten used to losing.

During the Covid interruption in advance of that Finland game, we on this website had looked back at the national team's previous worst era, the 57 months without a win between November 1967 and June 1972. Perhaps we can claim this was fulfilling our public service remit by preparing the general public for the coming era, which would be almost as bad/arguably worse.

That long winless run in the late 60s and early 70s consisted of just 21 games, one of which was abandoned due to fog in Dalymount and none of which were against Gibraltar. The smallest nation - in population terms - that Ireland played against in this benighted era was Scotland, and that match was a 1-1 draw. In that context, there is a strong claim that the first half of the 2020s has indeed been the worst era in the history of the Irish national team.

The sense of resignation that enveloped Irish football in the aftermath of the September window was overwhelming, with a broad swathe of the fanbase accepting there was little to be done in the short term.

Sure, there was isolated bellyaching about why