TIME FOR HEIMIR TO DRAW BREATH

No easy route to World Cup, but hopes are high with Irish set to find out play-off opponents

- By GARRY DOYLE

IT is the worst change of pots since Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia.

One minute Ireland appeared safe in Pot 2, set for a semifinal at home against moderate opposition. The next, following Wales' destruction of North Macedonia and Austria's 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Heimir Hallgrimsson and his side were unceremoniously dumped into Pot 3.

And just like that, the road to USA/Mexico/Canada became perilous. For a nation still floating on the euphoria of Budapest, this is a sobering reminder: the playoffs are a cruel, unpredictable business.

You just have to look at Ireland's history in this arena for a reminder of the heartache that exists.

Twice, they navigated it successfully against Iran in 2001 and Estonia in 2011. But the rest is a litany of torment: Spain blocked 1966, the Netherlands in '96, Belgium in '98. France, Thierry Henry's handball, ended 2010 dreams.

Christian Eriksen's hat-trick extinguished 2018. Slovakia in 2020 a penalty shootout, the familiar wail of defeat echoing in Dublin's pubs and living rooms.

Pot 3 is no place for complacency; Ireland's margin for error is vanishingly small. Qualification is not a gift. It is earned through grit and the stubborn refusal to let history repeat itself. Here is the lowdown on what's up ahead in today's draw.

SLOVAKIA

On paper, Slovakia's campaign looks tidy: six games, twelve points, four wins, two defeats.

Ireland, by comparison, scraped three victories and a draw, while bad luck denied them more.

So why worry? After all, Northern Ireland comprehensively beat Slovakia in Belfast before Germany thrashed them 6-0.