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I woke up today hoping things might be better but no, it's still so, so shite. We've been waiting for this since early December when the draw was made, and after 7 months of unbearable anticipation, delirious optimism and worst of all FAITH, 3-1 to Croatia. Kicked in the Balls.ie. Kicked in the Balkans.
It's:
- shite for the players who had to suffer through that, especially the senior players like Given, Duff and Dunne, who in 90 minutes went from revelling in one of the high points of gilded careers to thinking perhaps that their Ireland careers are maybe two full-time whistles from a disappointing end.
- shite for the people who've spent hundreds and hundreds of euro on flights, tickets and acconmodation there and now are reduced to clutching at straws over Tyskie and Lech for a week.
- shite for everyone at home, desperate for sports escapism. Coupled with the rugby, this weekend provided a true reality check as to where we stand on sport's global stage.
- shite for the sort of ecstatic, mischievous mood that the 35,000+ Ireland supporters were creating over the weekend in Poznan. It was incredible what we created this weekend in Poznan. We've only been able to give you a slice of that on Balls this weekend. Good-natured, impassioned, drunken eejitry. I'm sure there still be plenty of devilment over the week, but can you imagine the crescendo of craic if we had three points or even a draw in our back pocket?
- shite for the sports blogs trawling the web for Irish fans doing hilarious things in Poland, hoping to getting another week out of the tournament
