Much of Ireland came to a standstill yesterday as offices emptied and workers crowded into bars to watch the game from Tehran.
But as celebrating supporters took to the streets at the end of the match, employer complaints about hours lost were giving way to optimism that World Cup qualification could be the boost a flagging economy needs. The Small Firms Association predicted Irish participation in next summer's competition would have major social and economic benefits.
"It is not just coincidental that our best economic decade, the '90s, started with Italia 90," said the association's director, Mr Pat Delaney.
"It captured a spirit which we have transferred now into business and social advances. It's hard to quantify in money terms. But productivity increases, people get on better with one another and there is a huge positive effect."
Mr Delaney said the television audience of millions who tune into the World Cup would give the country a chance to promote itself to the world.
The free exposure, plus the fact that many Irish would choose to holiday at home during the World Cup month, would help the beleaguered tourism industry, he said.
"I know a lot of people will want to go to Japan and Korea but the real party is in Ireland and there will be a lot of money spent on it.
"Hotels, pubs, clothing manufacturers, the publishing industry will all benefit. Look at what an All-Ireland final means to a county in business terms and multiply it. We have talked about the cost of the campaign but we will get it back many times over. It couldn't have come at a better time."
The certain winners include the Football Association of Ireland. With the financial carrot for qualifying estimated to be at least £10 million, the team's participation in Japan and Korea means a jackpot for the association.
Players are also sure to benefit from increasingly lucrative commercial rewards and manager Mick McCarthy, whose current contract expires next February, will be in a position to negotiate a lucrative new deal, probably doubling his present salary.
But benefits were expected far and wide last night. One supermarket manager, Mr Adrian Grimes, summed up the mood when he said qualification would give the Republic a lift after relentlessly grim economic forecasts and news of job cuts.
"This is just the feelgood factor everyone needs," he said.