Everyone had heard of a lot of tickets floating around for this sell-out against North Macedonia. The first 30 minutes were especially grim as Macedonia pressed energetically and Ireland struggled to put anything together. Ireland's Finn Azaz and Tihomir Kostadinov of North Macedonia. A few minutes before the end I checked to see what they were making of this in the south end. The word came back: “He is struggling to understand why Ireland won’t just score.”A new generation confronts the eternal mystery.

Source: The Irish Times April 01, 2026 19:39 UTC