There were a few scary moments where international football wasn't on the telly, but we're okay now with the world cup qualifiers under way. There's been talk of resurrection and renewal from a few different quarters, but do we have it? Is any of the Tra-hype worth the ink? Answer: no.
We were not going to Tiblisi, which was good. Shorter flight, less of a chance of being brutally murdered. Instead the Georgian away fixture was being at a neutral venue. Surprise, surprise, since Georgia is the wobbly pub table du jour, upon which America and Russia are doing some retro 80's geopolitical arm-wrestling. Instead, it all happened in Mainz, Germany. Admittedly there's an irony in using the term 'neutral', given that Germany is in NATO and Mainz near several US bases, however irony has never been a FIFA strong point.
The buzz was far from deafening, however. Despite the relative closeness of the neutral venue to us - Mainz is barely an hour from Frankfurt airport - it didn't seem to enthuse people to march arm in arm to Dublin airport to watch a festival of football.
The fact is, that unless people have an interest in history and culture, the reasons for going to Mainz did not include a guarantee of passionate football by a group of men who want to play for the pride and honour of their country. The spirit may have been willing, but the bodies weren't following.
Previous fixtures under Trapattoni haven't given that much cause for comfort. For example, I attended the macabre spectacle of Ireland v Serbia at Croke Park. We arrived late and left early. The place would have had a bigger gate for a ladies minor football semi-final. Those who did attend had clearly worked as extras in the film "Awakenings": the bestial awfulness of the game sent the rest of us into a coma as well. Despite our best effort to get a few songs going - no one wanted to join in for a few bars of 'You're not really Russians' to the tune of 'Guantanemera' for the benefit of the Serbs - there was a serious feeling of being underwhelmed and uninterested. Things did not bode well, and the display in Mainz demonstrated a similar lack of energy.
Admittedly, not everyone was lacking animation. Trapp is 69, and has more verve and passion than any one player on the pitch in a green jersey. Even the score, 2-1, suggests a job done with some efficiency but not much else. There's an awful lot of convincing still to do.
So, it's on to Montenegro, the latest country to dump Serbia, and yet another young country whose infancy is troubled. For all of that, however, we can't seem to stuff these teams, despite the genuine administrative and logistical obstacles on their own paths to glory.
Whilst other teams from Europe's developed footballing world, such as Germany, can stick six of the best past minnows, we're left scrapping it out with teams that, frankly, have no tangible reason to put up a serious threat to us, and we've been at this since the McCarthy era, if not even earlier. Trapp has merely brought stability, but self-belief, even flair have yet to materialise.
Another bout of underachievement on Wednesday may drive the excitable Trapp to distraction, which is the fans can relate to. We're already distracted, by reruns of Southpark.
