Heimir got everything right & the Portuguese got it all so terribly Ron..

THE first thing I want to do is apologise to Heimir Hallgrimsson - AKA The Dentist.

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I've been extremely critical of him over the last 12 months.

Yet I could not be happier to eat humble pie because what happened in the Aviva Stadium last night was incredible.

And no matter what Hallgrimsson does in the remainder of his career, he will always have this night, when Ireland defeated the fifth ranked team in the world, and got one over one of the greatest players to have ever played the game.

Credit Hallgrimsson for his strategy, his belief in both himself and his team.

They were brilliant.

You could feel it long before kickoff. That hum around Lansdowne Road - part hope, part dread that maybe, just maybe, something was about to happen.

And then it did. Ireland 2, Portugal 0.

No fluke. No lucky deflection. Just proper football - brave.

We've had decades of "moral victories", hard-luck stories and gallant defeats.

But this was different. This was a real team beating a real heavyweight.

Ronaldo was made to look ordinary by lads in green who decided enough was enough.

And you have to hand it to the manager.

Heimir Hallgrímsson - “The Dentist” got it right.

I've given him stick, and I don't take any of it back.

Until now, the football has been tepid, the selections odd.

But against Portugal, he got everything right from the shape to the spirit.

It was brave management, not blind luck.