Play-offs unlikely; Kenny aiming to sign off in style against the Dutch

There have been many unexpected results taking place throughout this Euro 2024 campaign, but they would have to get even stranger for Ireland to secure a place in the March play-offs.

Losing twice to the lower ranked Greece certainly falls into that category, however, there have been many more surprising results, and they are currently reflected in the group standings heading into the final international window.

While five of the groups are topped by teams that would be perennial qualifiers for the big tournaments, like France, England, Spain, Belgium and Portugal, the other five leaders are Turkey, Albania, Hungary, Slovenia and Romania.

Three of those teams are actually ranked lower than Ireland in the UEFA standings, which really highlights the ever-changing landscape of international football.

The general consensus going into the Euro 2024 qualifiers was that Ireland were well placed to take a play-off place on the basis that most of the 25 higher ranked sides would qualify automatically.

Now with two rounds of games remaining, Ireland are all-but eliminated ahead of the November games.

But not yet.

The Republic of Ireland has yet to turn yellow on the Wikipedia map of Europe and remains in the light blue, "Team may qualify" category.

As it stands, Ireland are sixth in League B in a race for the four play-off places and they need two groups to dramatically change to have any chance of making it.

In short, Israel would have to qualify automatically in place of Romania in Group I, which is not beyond the realms of possibility as they have four games remaining to close the five-point gap, while the two teams have still to face each other.

Group J is the other avenue for Ireland to navigate, however, in this case, they need