It has been a night of mixed emotions for Irish football fans.
A relatively uninspiring performance in Copenhagen is tempered by the fact that the return leg on Tuesday still leaves Ireland primed for World Cup qualification.
However, with the visitors never really looking like testing Denmark's Kasper Schmeichel tonight, much has been made of what it is that Martin O'Neill really expects Ireland can be.
While the post-match thoughts of Eamonn Dunphy and - to a lesser extent - Liam Brady are a given ('Wes', 'great bunch', 'should be ashamed' etc), RTÉ's Damien Duff's insights yet remain fresh.
Speaking of Ireland's performance, Duff, forgiving a slip of the tongue, correctly illustrated Ireland's prowess without the ball, and utter inability to be productive with it:
The disappointing thing is, we never really went toe-to-toe with them. On the front foot, I think Jim [Beglin] called it, we never took the game to them.
There's no reason to think we are going to compete on Tuesday. Like I touched on at half-time, ya [Denmark] play the long ball ... but they work it better than us.
Without the ball, ya [Ireland] are brilliant we defend well; spirit, desire, but you expect that from Irish players, from Irish people, from the man in the street.
But with the ball, it's just ... awful stuff.
Looking visibly distressed with what he had just seen, Duff does not sound overly confident for the match ahead.
A player who had his mixed share of experiences with regards playoffs, Ireland may well be left relying upon a moment of magic a lá the Duff-Kilbane-Keane passing axis of that French playoff eight years ago.
You can watch the full extent of Duff's exasperation below.
'Without the ball, brilliant. With the ball, awful' - Damien Duff unimpressed with Ireland's performance #Rtesoccer #denirl pic.twitter.com/TubWfZVFM5
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) November 11, 2017
