And so it’s Denmark, not the Republic of Ireland, that will be at next summer’s World Cup in Russia.
After holding the Danes in Copenhagen at the weekend, the Irish made what seemed like a dream start to their second leg in Dublin. A headed goal for Shane Duffy after just six minutes put them in the driving seat.
It was not to be.
23 minutes later, Denmark were level through a Cyrus Christie own goal, which was swiftly followed by a spectacular effort from Christian Eriksen. Ireland never recovered.
Eriksen scored twice more in the second half in a magnificent individual performance. To complete a disastrous night, Nicklas Bendtner, on from the bench, converted a stoppage time penalty.
A night that had promised so, so much ended in bitter disappointment.
The feeling of all Irish supporters was perhaps best summed up by an emotional James McClean. Weeks on from scoring that goal in Cardiff which took his country through to the qualifiers, the West Brom winger fought back tears in a post-match interview given to RTÉ shortly after the full-time whistle.
"They were just better than us… I don't know what to say… I am just devastated" – Fair play to James McClean for fronting #Irlden pic.twitter.com/j2dJlQbg8g
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 14, 2017
