The FAI's representatives at yesterday's fixtures meeting at the Grand Hotel in Sofia insisted they had made the best of a bad lot after being landed with back-to-back games against the group's top seeds next spring and an unwanted June visit by rivals Bulgaria.
"To be fair, I think we've done as well as we could given the restrictions we faced," said John Delaney, a reference to the fact they had arrived knowing Croke Park would only be available to them for five of the dates set aside by FIFA for qualifying games.
"We only had five home dates, plus the friendly date which gave us six to box five games into," said Delaney after what was described by one of the Irish party as a "belligerent" stand from the Bulgarians left the Irish with little option but to abandon any hope of having the two games with their rivals pencilled in on their preferred dates.
The association's aim had been to play Bulgaria at home this October and then away the following September but their hosts were having none of it yesterday and instead the home game will take place on March 29th of next year - just four days before the Republic's game in Italy - with the second seeds playing here a little over two months later on June 6th.
The only consolation is that the new manager will have the option of lining up a friendly for the new September date or travelling to Sofia in order to watch the group's top two sides play each other before Ireland face either of them.
"June is a difficult time for us," conceded Delaney, "and switching the home game has meant moving Georgia from a competitive date to a friendly one. I said before the meeting that if it had to be, that would be the date that could resolve our problems and using it has gotten us out of some difficulty."
Like Delaney, Ireland's caretaker manager Don Givens sought to view the outcome of yesterday's three-and-a-half-hour meeting in as positive a light as possible.
"What I'd say is that we couldn't have done much better," he remarked. "Obviously there is one fixture that we would like to avoid, and that's Bulgaria away in June. Because of the logistics of keeping the players ticking over, it's one you'd like to avoid but we weren't dealing with the best hand."
Givens was more pleased with what has been lined up for the initial phase of the campaign this September when Ireland will travel first to Tbilisi then Podgorica to face Georgia and Montenegro respectively. A month later they attempt to exorcise one of the demons of the last campaign by beating Cyprus in Dublin, while the Georgians will make their visit to Croke Park in February. "I think it's a reasonable opening, the first four games," he said. "I know there are two away at the start, but you would still hope to amass some points before we get into a tough little section in the middle of it.
"Everybody will point to that bit in the middle (Bulgaria home, Italy away then Bulgaria away three weeks after the end of the English season) and say it's crucial. But if we don't do the business in the early part of the campaign, we'll be struggling.
"A new manager coming in, maybe he won't understand the limitations we faced but the fact is that we weren't dealing with the strongest of hands. It's been tough in there, some tough negotiating was required to get what we got and I think we're reasonably happy with the outcome."
The Italians, observed Givens, had had an easy time of it and capitalised on their world champions status to achieve the fixture list they wanted.
Sure enough, Italian coach Roberto Donadoni made clear he was well satisfied with his morning's work as he departed for the airport. "I am very happy with the arrangement of the games," he said.
His newly restored Bulgarian counterpart, Plamen Markov, on the other hand, shared Irish concerns over the June date for the meeting between the two sides. "It is not ideal," he said.
Group Eight qualifiers: The fixtures
2008
Saturday, September 6th
Cyprus v Italy
Georgia v Rep of Ireland
Montenegro v Bulgaria
Wednesday, September 10th
Italy v Georgia
Montenegro v Rep of Ireland
Saturday, October 11th
Bulgaria v Italy
Georgia v Cyprus
Wednesday, October 15th
Italy v Montenegro
Rep of Ireland v Cyprus
Georgia v Bulgaria
2009
Wednesday, February 11th
Rep of Ireland v Georgia
Saturday, March 28th
Montenegro v Italy
Cyprus v Georgia
Rep of Ireland v Bulgaria
Wednesday, April 1st
Italy v Rep of Ireland
Bulgaria v Cyprus
Georgia v Montenegro
Saturday, June 6th
Cyprus v Montenegro
Bulgaria v Rep of Ireland
Saturday, September 5th
Georgia v Italy
Cyprus v Rep of Ireland
Bulgaria v Montenegro
Wednesday, September 9th
Italy v Bulgaria
Montenegro v Cyprus
Saturday, October 10th
Rep of Ireland v Italy
Cyprus v Bulgaria
Montenegro v Georgia
Wednesday, October 14th
Italy v Cyprus
Rep of Ireland v Montenegro
Bulgaria v Georgia
