There are all manner of words to describe a singular kind of experience. ‘Rout’ seems to be the most popular way of calling Ireland’s Nations League defeat to Wales, however, although UEFA.com - the website of the body at which we now have, to use a phrase, a bit of pull - went with ‘trounce’.
Martin O’Neill faces a difficult few days ahead to weather the fallout to last night’s 4-1 defeat in Cardiff, and he will find little solace in the British media if he wishes to turn there.
Here’s how they called last night’s result.
While there is a natural focus on Bale, Giggs and Wales across all of the UK outlets, The Telegraph kindly describe Ireland as “hopeless” in the headline of Luke Edwards’ match report, which points to Ireland’s lack of any exciting forward talent.
For Ireland, this was as dismal as things have been for years. They have lacked exciting forward players for far too long, but this was a horrendously disjointed performance; a humiliation that points to the international wilderness rather than tournament football.
Quite what that means for manager Martin O’Neill is open to question, but he has a huge job on his hands, a challenge that will draw on all his years in the game if he is to conquer it.
The Guardian, meanwhile, drew attention to the contrasting experiences of two of Manchester United’s most iconic players.
The half-time team talks would have been poles apart as a seething Roy Keane, O’Neill’s assistant, headed into the changing rooms ahead of Giggs, his former Manchester United teammate. But any harsh words in Ireland’s dressing room made little obvious difference as Wales continued to dominate.
In the Mail, Craig Hope made reference to Ireland’s “sorry bunch” of players and pondered whether O’Neill is now under pressure to keep his job.
How Ireland boss Martin O’Neill must wish he had a youngster of [Ethan] Ampadu’s calibre to call on. He does, in fact, in the form of West Ham’s Declan Rice, but despite winning three caps in friendlies the 19-year-old is now considering an offer from England. If he was watching this it would have done little to persuade him to return.
O’Neill could well find himself under pressure ahead of Euro 2020 qualifying proper in March if results - and performances - are as dire as this in the remaining Nations League games.
In The Times, Gary Jacob was far-from-flattering about the Irish performance.
It felt like the old against new. O’Neill’s Ireland side were shabby, tired and listless and torn to shreds by a confident home side who displayed plenty of zest, steel and invention in this Nations League game.
It was one-sided and damning on O’Neill and Roy Keane, who had not lost a competitive away match in six outings. If Declan Rice was watching at home, the West Ham United defender must have been thinking harder about picking England over Ireland.
Finally, to our friends at WalesOnline. In their match report - through which they keep on calling Ireland the ‘Emerald Isle’ - they went as far as praising the Irish supporters.
To their credit, the 1,500 who made the trip over from the Emerald Isle continued to give their vocal backing despite seeing the hosts dominate as well as going two goals up so early on.
And O'Neill's side enjoyed more possession at the business end of the pitch, although their blunt attack ensured Wales remained largely untested.
That same report ends with the assertion that the Welsh performance “gave a real glimpse of what Wales can actually do under their current boss. And on the evidence of this display, there's a whole lot to look forward to”.
Oh, to share that. . .
