Ireland! Ireland! Ireland! Ireland! - EURO 2012 Playoffs Round 1

It started slowly but in the end we saw quite a few goals and a few good old-fashioned spankings in the first leg of EURO 2012 playoff action.

And who would have thought Ireland would be one of those delivering the spanking? 4-0 it's just finished in Tallinn - quite a superb display of counter-attacking football from Trappatoni's men in green. Once they got the early goal, Ireland looked in control despite continual pressure from the hosts. They were aided by the sending of Estonia's two most experienced players, Stepanov and Piiroja - both got two yellows each. But no one would begrudge Ireland their victory on the night and a probable place in EURO 2012 - as well as a huge party in Dublin on Wednesday.

Well done Ireland - expect a green invasion of Poland and Ukraine next year too.

And it looks like they'll be joined by Croatia and the Czech Republic next year in Poland and Ukraine. Croatia got the other convincing result on the night in Turkey - a 3-0 win - while the Czechs beat Montenegro 2-0 in Prague.


On the other hand, Portugal will have it all to do at home next week against Bosnia. They got away with a 0-0 draw and that's the minimum result Ronaldo's men would have wanted.






So all but one of Wednesday morning's ties will pretty much be celebratory.

Anyway here are the highlights: