Now for North Macedonia: Why you should go to Ireland’s least enticing home friendly ever

All you can do, really, is wish the very best to those who’ve put their tickets for Tuesday evening’s game at the Aviva Stadium up for resale on the Ticketmaster site for prices reaching ... €172.50 (plus the handling fee of €2.95).

The sellers did, of course, purchase their tickets in the hope we’d be playing Denmark or North Macedonia with a place in the USA/Canada/Mexico at stake, but ... ah look, you know yourself.

It would be true to say Ireland have played their fair share of home friendlies down the years that didn’t exactly leave supporters tingling in anticipation, but this one takes the biscuit. And you thought the World Cup third place playoff was unloved?

In their wisdom, the folk who run football thought it would be a tremendous idea to make the teams that lost their World Cup qualifying semi-finals last Thursday play each other the following Tuesday. The only surprise is that Fifa aren’t awarding a trophy to the winners of this tussle, perhaps labelling the match “There’s Always 2030″.

The Aviva Stadium’s capacity is 51,711 – our mood-detecting gadget suggests that although the game is officially sold out, a crowd of about 711 will turn up.

But, if you have a ticket, why should you use it rather than leave your seat empty or try to re-sell it? There are five good reasons.

1 If you’re so dejected after last Thursday that you never want to see a football game again, imagine how the players feel. You can be sure both the Irish and North Macedonia squads and their management would prefer to undergo a colonic irrigation procedure than fulfil this fixture. So, show some solidarity: turn up. Remember, when you gave your heart to Ireland, you vowed to have and to hold them from that day forward, for better or for worse. This is a measure of your loyalty. If you don’t turn up, you’ll have had a North Macedonia.

2 As Heimir Hallgrímsson said on Saturday of this game, “it’s a bit like being involved in a car crash – the best thing is to start driving again”. That is sound advice. So dust yourself down and get back on the horse.

3 It is said by people who know these things that Dursey Island off the Beara Peninsula in Cork is the farthest point from the Aviva Stadium in Ireland (330km). If that sounds like a bit a haul if you live there and have a ticket for the game, spare a thought for North Macedonia – Skopje is 3,067km from Dublin and, unless they have a direct charter flight, it could take the squad anything up to six hours to get here. If they can make that effort, so can you.

4 Fitness permitting, Séamus Coleman might be making his final appearance for Ireland. Might is the key word here. Hallgrímsson has said he hopes the Donegal man will stay on for the Euro 2028 campaign. That seems a bit unlikely, though, not least because his Everton contract is up at the end of the season. So, on the off chance that this will indeed be his last hurrah in an Irish shirt, the very least he deserves is a sizeable crowd to applaud him off the pitch and thank him for everything. He did the State some service, that lad.

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