Finnan's right. The media are piling the pressure on the lads these days and unfairly imo. I think some of this stems from Irish fans expectations, after all these journos are Ireland fans too and they'll have their own expectations which will influence their writing style.
But imo the "regular" fans do have high expectations. I believe Noelys Guitar came up with a "realisitic" projected points total for the WC qualifying group which in fairness was very kind. The most people on here seem to expect Ireland to finish second, despite them being third seeds for the last two qualifying campaigns, meaning the team was going downhill BEFORE Staunton took over.
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