A glorious win in Vienna coupled with Serbia's late draw against Wales means we sit atop our qualifying group, with ten points from 12. Given that three of those four games have been away from home, we are looking in a pretty solid position to qualify.
Weltfussball.at (the website whose name George Hamilton was put on this Earth to pronounce) decried the Austrian performance, adding the result leaves the side under serious pressure to qualify, adding that they can hardly afford to drop another point in their remaining six games.
They described the Irish goal as a "cold shower" for the Austrians, rounding off on how Ireland made light of their previous poor record in Vienna.
Elsewhere, Kurier indulged in the noble art of the Player Rating. Theirs seems to deviate from our standard rating out of ten: nobody scored above a four, and nobody below a two. The player who did score two was adjudged to be their best player.
That player was Marco Arnautovic, who "went as fast as a fire brigade", but ultimately did not make the impact desired.
David Alaba got just a three, as he "fought weakly" and "did not make the difference". Kevin Wimmer, the Spurs defender who took a dive in the lead-up to the Irish goal, escaped too much criticism, with writer Alexandra Stretcha pointing the finger of blame at coach Marcel Koller instead, for playing him out of position at left-back.
Elsewhere in the same publication, they decry Austria's lack of response to the Irish goal, saying that the concession of a goal on the counterattack was "stupid":
It should then be noted that Austria is not currently in a position to do so. No compelling combinations, no one who takes the command.
Not even David Alaba, who took over the captaincy of Julian Baumgartlinger in the middle of the game. A long shot by Joker Schaub and Alaba was the only achievement of an increasingly perplexing team.
What remains: Only a restart after the winter break can help to find the way to Russia for the 2018 World Cup.
Kurier also did a live text commentary of the game, and we've hit Google Translate on the minutes around Ireland's goal. They're oddly entertaining:
Elsewhere, following their dropping of points against Serbia, Wales Online include the fact that Ireland may just be a threat in their 'things we learned' section from the game:
Man for man, Ireland aren't a patch on Wales. Yet under managerial maestro Martin O'Neill, backed up by the passion and know-how of Roy Keane, they just have this incredible knack of getting the job done.
Their shock win in Austria followed a squeaky draw in Serbia, a narrow home win over Georgia and three points in Moldova. They top Group D and have four games of their last six to come in Dublin.
If you were to look at a composite Wales-Ireland XI, very few Irish would get in. The only certainty would be Seamus Coleman at right back. Two or three others may be touch and go, but it would be very Wales dominated.
Yet they are organised, disciplined, experienced and know how to win.
Write off the Irish at your peril.
