STUNG, DRAWN AND QUARTERED

Pain fresh in mind but the World is in our hands

- GARRY DOYLE

NO doubt you'll say it's the same old tune. That we've been here before, humming the same chorus, allowing the optimism to rise like steam from a pot before it inevitably condenses on cold reality.

You'll cite the history, because history is always wheeled out in these conversations like a stern schoolmaster with the record book under his arm.

Ten World Cups. Ten exits at the quarterfinal stage or earlier. Ten times the promise of Ireland in full bloom withering as soon as the knockout rounds begin.

And so the argument goes - why should anything be different this time? Why should yesterday's draw, served lukewarm and expected, prompt anything other than that familiar Irish cocktail of hope chased with dread?

Well, perhaps because occasionally sport chooses to be kind.

And if you examine the route presented to Ireland, not with green-tinted glasses but with the cold, forensic glare of recent form, there is a case to be made that something unprecedented could be brewing.

Start with the pool Ireland were drawn in. Scotland, Uruguay and Portugal. The latter pair won't trouble a Tier 1 nation with properly aligned ambitions.

When Ireland played Portugal earlier this year, they put 106 points on them.

Top spot in the pool hinges on one game: Ireland versus Scotland. And yes, the Scots have improved. They rattled New Zealand last month and have scalped England, France, and anyone careless enough to wander into their cross-hairs. There is talent there.