Results must follow as Ireland set standard against France

The Republic of Ireland's performance against the World Cup finalists proved that Stephen Kenny’s side have the ability to compete with the international elite.

This emerging Ireland side have now mixed it with Belgium, Serbia, Portugal, twice, and now with Didier Deschamps’ world class unit, which takes the Irish performance to another level altogether.

And more importantly, they have done it the Stephen Kenny way.

Not all plain sailing, it must be said, as the Kenny way has perhaps changed quite significantly throughout the 30-odd months of fixtures during his tenure.

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose", one might say for the week that’s in it, basically meaning that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and it applies to the fundamentals of the manager’s beliefs when it comes to playing football.

The simple things. Composure on the ball. Pass and move. Maintain possession.

Modern coaching can complicate things a touch and when they go wrong, they go very, very wrong; the penalty given away in Portugal a prime example of the fallibility of the system is certain situations.

On Monday night at Lansdowne Road, the team and the system were in perfect harmony, made all the more sweeter by the absolute quality of the opposition.

But if you think that was the toughest test that the team will face, you might be mistaken.

Next up for Ireland is a tricky away trip to Greece in June, where Kenny’s side face the potential of a double whammy of soaring temperatures, combined with end of season idleness, which was very evident in last summer’s equivalent window where Ireland were shocked by Armenia in Yerevan, losing 1-0.

They lost again 1-0 to Ukraine four days later, in that remarkable game where the manager felt that