Mark down the date. 3rd of December 2015 and Ireland have finally jumped back above the Cape Verde Islands in the FIFA World Rankings. That may seem disrespectful to the African nation, and it probably is, but they have come to sum up our slide down the rankings over the past year or so.
Every month the rankings would come out and we'd look to the nations with less storied international traditions racing ahead of us. Cape Verde always seemed to be there. But no more. The victory over Bosnia has seen Ireland shoot up for the second consecutive month to the heady heights of 31st after a jump of 11 places.
Our sights are now firmly set on Northern Ireland who fall one place to 30th.
We were down as low as 54th in October but the win over Germany gave us a big boost last month and now we're back ahead of the likes of Denmark, Poland and USA. Not quite back to the Jack Charlton days of the top 10 but in relation to where we've been, it's a good indication of what's been achieved over the past couple of months.
At the top of the pile, Belgium have held on to top spot while Wales have fallen to 17th. Scotland for their part are down to 52nd. We feel their pain.
