If Irish football is fumbling for solace at the moment, then Tallaght wasn't the place to come foraging.
The Irish Under-21s hopes of qualifying for a first-ever European Championships at this level are perishing fast, as they fell to a 6-0 defeat at home to Germany before a crowd of Michael D. Higgins and 2,324 other people who aren't president.
Ireland's fate is now out of their hands, and must win both of their remaining games - the second of which is away to Germany - to have any hopes of progressing.
On this basis, that won't happen.
Ireland were completely outclassed by the Germans on a craggy evening during which they showed an inheritance of some of the worst traits of the senior squad.
The ambition of many attacks was merely the slinging of balls into channels for Reece Grego-Cox to chase, and the night was blemished with some fist-gnawing sloppiness: at one point in the first-half, Ryan Delaney chucked a throw-in out for...a throw-in.
Another familiar characteristic reared its head in the second half: the denuding of attacking edge in the absence of a playmaker.
Having spent the first-half putting goalkicks on his forehead, the second half finally saw Ireland send brought some balls to Ryan Manning's feet. Anytime they did, Ireland looked better: a devilish cross by Manning betrayed the first jitters in the German defence all night.
Within two minutes, Manning was substituted by Noel King, a decision which the player seemed to disagree with, flinging away a water bottle before kicking the bench in disgust.
It later emerged that Manning had been struggling a with a virus that spread through the Irish camp during the week.
By the time Manning took his leave, the scoreline still read as it did at half-time: 2-0
Germany played a 4-4-2 diamond from the start and consequently got their geometry right. They consistently found space and passing angles around the Irish midfield, particularly on the right-hand side where Benjamin Henrichs - recently snapped up by Monaco - loitered with the means of making good the pacy runs of strikers Cedric Teuchert and Aaron Seydel. It was from this avenue that Germany scored after only five minutes: Henrichs nutmegged an Irish defender in slipping the ball to the rangy Seydel, who rifled the ball into Kieran O'Hara's bottom-right hand corner.
Germany scored the second goal from the penalty spot, but it had a similar source to the first: a Henrichs ball was slipped between the Irish right-back and backtracking right-winger. The latter, Jake Mulraney, foolishly jumped into a tackle on Lukas Klostermann, culminating in Teuchert converting from the penalty spot.
After Manning went, Ireland faded and Germany cantered clear. An errant O'Hara goal kick went directly to Florian Neuhaus, who slipped the ball to Teuchert. O'Hara recently saved three penalties in a League Cup tie for Macclesfield against Walsall, and he can't have imagined having to repeat the trick tonight. Teuchart completed his hat-trick from the spot after Liam Kinsella fouled Maximilan Eggestein.
The fifth goal was another penalty. It was of similar provenance and differing execution: awarded for another Mulraney foul on Klostermann; converted by substitute Suat Serdar.
Serdar then got Germany's sixth, finding time and composure in the box to backheel the ball beyond O'Hara amid a goalmouth scramble.
Ireland were monstered technically and physically: that many cental-midfield battles featured beleaguered Irish appeals for high German feet owed more to the diminutive Irish midfield. The only player smaller than captain Josh Cullen was his midfield partner Liam Kinsella.
Germany are the reigning champions at this level, are stocked with players with thousands of Bundesliga minutes between them and have in Benjamin Henrichs a player trusted by Jogi Loew to appear at last year's Confederations Cup.
In contrast, only Conor Shaughnessy in the Irish team is in contention for minutes in the Championship; the rest are either ensconced in academies or have dropped to League One and below to dig for first-team minutes.
Kinsella and Cullen battled gamely in midfield and Grego-Cox showed a Longesque commitment to chasing long balls but all was to little avail.
Although the verities haven't vanished, neither have the realities.
