Ireland beat Israel as fallout continues

“A bleak farce that leaves everyone feeling bitter and betrayed.” So writes Ken Early of Ireland’s game against Israel in Debrecen on Sunday evening. Once again, “the country marvelled at the incompetence of the FAI” in the build-up to it all. Despite having seven months to prepare for the occasion, he says, the question of whether the game would actually be played was still not settled the day before.

But the FAI president, Paul Cooke, insisted that the association “handled the week quite well”, questioning how “some people conducted themselves”. Who? The media. “I thought journalists were meant to be balanced and reflect two sides of an opinion,” Gavin Cooney heard him say. “I haven’t seen that.”