Ireland fans celebrate Troy Parrott's winer against Hungary. AIB saw a spike in card spending in Budapest around the match earlier this month. Photograph: INPHO/Ryan ByrneSpending on flights to the Czech Republic took off in the minutes after the World Cup play-off draw was made last week while sales of replica football jerseys soared as fans suddenly found themselves freed from almost a decade of miserable mediocrity. According to fresh data from AIB, around €250,000 was spent on flights by its customers between 1pm on 2pm last Thursday just after the boys in green were handed a play-off semi-final in Prague. “The buoyant mood sweeping the country in the wake of the Irish football team’s achievements is palpable,” said AIB’s head of consumer, Adrian Moynihan.
