Football re-asserts itself in Nicosia at teatime this evening. For that we can all give much thanks. It has been a long and bitter week and although the Irish hover right now somewhere between disaster and success, the tendency has been to accentuate the negative.
It is four years since Ireland last played here. That was another difficult week. Mick McCarthy's father Charlie passed away on the eve of the game while on the field of play Cyprus offered up a resistance which wasn't in evidence in the final scoreline of 4-0 to the visitors.
That night it took an astonishing performance from Roy Keane to haul the Republic of Ireland through the game. He scored two goals but more significantly inflicted his will and desire on everything and everybody. Jason McAteer came off the field in Nicosia that night quite shaken from the constant haranguing. The job got done, though.
It should get done tonight also but there is an awareness that by comparison this is a callow team which Brian Kerr brings to Nicosia. Keane is unavailable. Gary Kelly, Gary Breen and Jason McAteer are missing for one reason or another. With them goes a large amount of the passionate leadership from which that team drew.
Kerr conceded yesterday that his side hadn't perhaps performed to the height of his own expectations in this campaign. Previous disappointments have turned up the heat here in Cyprus.
"It certainly hasn't been for the want of effort or graft or commitment to the cause," he observed. "We haven't had the results that either they or I would have liked. We've had a few unlucky breaks here and there, we haven't had that slice of luck but I wouldn't be in any way critical. They've given their best. It was a fine line against France the only game we have lost. I'm disappointed we haven't got more points, but if we get enough at the end I'll be happy."
Kerr's words reflect the fact that as his first full campaign as Irish manager draws to an end there are two ways of judging his tenure thus far. With a declining and sometimes unavailable Roy Keane and with a largely unexceptional and notably leaderless bunch of players he has played it safe and kept Ireland in contention till the death.
That's not a very sexy argument to take to the barricades and even those of us who would promote that viewpoint must concede that there indeed have been some bad days at the office for Kerr and some disappointingly pallid performances from his team.
One can add that we in the media work with the significant benefit of hindsight, that at the moment of Robbie Keane's departure (having scored once but having been deserving of a hat-trick) from the Israel game at Lansdowne Road none of us stood up and shouted for Stephen Elliott to come on, none of us could have legislated for John O'Shea wrapping himself around a forward, a Greek referee giving a dubious penalty and then Avi Nimni poking it home.
Then there is the other point of view which believes that Kerr's Irish side haven't beaten a top-80 side in a competitive game in the three years of his reign, that we have dropped points needlessly from positions of strength and that the media palaver and fuss of the past week has been counterproductive and self-damaging.
That all becomes irrelevant this evening. Anything less than a win here ends the discussion about Brian Kerr's future as Ireland manager. Anything less than a win ends any moral claim Ireland have to a World Cup finals place. And yet when the final whistle goes if that win is secured it immediately becomes quite irrelevant too. There are no garlands on offer for beating a Cyprus team whose only four points in the campaign so far have come at the expense of the Faroe Islands.
Ireland will evacuate Cyprus immediately after the game and head home to begin concentrating on Wednesday's tie with Switzerland who are playing France tonight.
The French are also in action on Wednesday when they entertain Cyprus in Paris, a relatively easy conclusion to their schedule and one which is expected to provide them with an automatic pass to next year's finals.
The Ireland squad altered their schedule yesterday, opting not to train in the morning heat and travelling instead to Nicosia last night to train at the GSP Stadium at match time.
Kerr was giving away very little about the make-up of his side but hinted strongly that Graham Kavanagh of Premiership newcomers Wigan Athletic would play in the centre of midfield.
Of those players carrying knocks the news was mostly good. Steven Reid is expected to be match-fit.
Damien Duff has a cut on his foot with stitches in it but he has trained fully every day. Stephen Carr retains a little soreness around his wounded knee but again he is likely to be fit to take the field.
So to the bottom line. If Ireland win tonight and win again on Wednesday night they will go into a play-off for the World Cup finals. Beyond that the permutations are many and ever more forlorn. The game and the nature of the week which has preceded it makes it about more than qualification, however. It is about how Brian Kerr, the only Irish soccer manager to have ever won anything of significance, will be remembered.
The minimum price of those four missing points from the games against Israel is that there will be debate and pressure. It all began this week. It was unedifying but unsurprising. Only six points and a play-off will end it.
That's pressure.
