In Wednesday's bold 'futurevision' podcast, we conducted the pod on the basis that Ireland had beaten Italy 1-0. We'd all love to write our own reviews but it was a scintillating piece of radio. Naturally, Ireland proceeded to win 1-0 last night. The only thing we got wrong was that it was Robbie Brady and not Daryl Murphy who scored for Ireland (breaking his duck with a 94th minute bicycle kick in our alternate reality). Also, John Delaney did not end up punching Silvio Berlusconi (who wasn't in attendance as far as we're aware) in the dignitaries area.
During the course of the podcast, we noted that we had plumped €50 on Ireland winning that game 1-0. Thus, that counted as an actual bet. We trust that even the most disengaged of you are aware of what transpired last night.
Well, well, it only takes one bet to arrest the slide and put one back in business. After a belter of an opening, our Ladbrokes Bet of the Day slot had been bleeding cash for six solid days.
But, it was Ireland and Robbie Brady that rode to our rescue.
Listen to the Racket below:
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/270518842" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
We've have leapt from €250 to €550. Anyone loyal listeners who tracked out bets from the start would, for all the frustration, nay anger, that he or she may have felt in the past six months, would now be €500 better off.
And so, in the spirit of Ireland's latest hero, we go again.
For the first time in ages, there is no football on the television. The evening feels a rather bare affair as a result. During this mid-competition lull, we have decided to focus our bets of the day on the competition as a whole. Macro-bets if you will.
The last 16 draw has thrown up an extraordinary stat. The Irish side of the draw boasts a ludicrous total of 11 World Cups and nine European championships (sadly, Ireland has contributed to neither tally). A grand total of 20 major championships.
The other side of the draw contains zero major championships. There are few up and coming tasty outfits who look like they could break their duck at this tournament.
Croatia included. It is on that basis we have thrown €10 on both Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric for player of the tournament. Both are at 20/1.
Since the Croatians could well go deep in this tournament, we reckon this is good value.
On the pod, the big takeaway in association with Four Star Pizza is that Martin O'Neill is a master at priming teams for one-off do or die games on the biggest of nights.
Dropping his two centre halves was an unusual move which paid off - even if neither were under the kind of pressure that they would have been in Bordeaux - and his decision to drop one of Whelan over McCarthy has been largely vindicated. Also, the decision to start Wes Hoolahan on the bench, which inspired groans beforehand, is now being widely praised.
This whole campaign, already longer than most Ireland campaigns by virtue of the fact that we actually qualified, still seems to have gone on for eternity.
Ireland's win in Georgia at the beginning of the campaign feels much longer ago than it was.
This, we suspect, is down to the fact that O'Neill's reign has gone through so many different phases. Tentative optimism early on after the draw in Gelsenkirchen. The despair which followed the loss in Glasgow. The mini-rally after a strong second half against the Poles. The sense that the campaign was dead following the draw with Scotland. The remarkable burst in late 2015. And then there's been the past couple of weeks.
