What can we say other than that we're absolutely devastated. We may try and distract ourselves with talk of pride and no regrets but, as true as those sentiments may be, they still don't really take away from that lingering sense of what might have been.
There'll no doubt be quite a few Irish heroes taking to social media in the coming hours having their say on what, for many, will have been a career defining couple of weeks. From the opening half of that Sweden performance to the final whistle today, there may have been some low points but nothing that you could say takes away from a major tournament performance the likes of which we've been waiting too long to see.
James McClean may have deleted his twitter account but his Instagram has survived and he's used it to give one hell of a tribute to Irish fans.
Devastated and heartbroken right now! So close! So honoured and proud to be a part of this amazing team, we gave it are all, its been a great journey! Are fans are easily bar far the best there is! Thank you for support yous are a credit ⚽️???
If that wasn't enough to set the waterworks going again, Shane Long has gone all the way back to the qualifiers, dragged up the emotion and laid it on a plate.
What a journey! pic.twitter.com/f3jq0zseTJ
— Shane Long (@ShaneLong7) June 26, 2016
