SOCCER/TV VIEW:Bill had his calculator out, figuring that 22 points would do the job, writes MARY HANNIGAN

“RELAX, PUT your feet up, it’s the start of a new journey for Trapattoni and Ireland,” said a decidedly bubbly Bill O’Herlihy as he welcomed us to the first leg of the trip that will, we’ll trust, end up in either Poland or Ukraine, or possibly both.

He left us in need of a buoyancy aid, though, when he warned us, a bit gravely, that Armenia were no mugs, his nervousness heightened by that the fact that he himself had seen as much first team football this season as a few of the boys in green.

Now, Australia might have put a dent in the notion that there are no easy games in international football when they scraped past American Samoa 31-0 a few years back but, as Algeria would tell you, after being held to a scoreless draw by England at the World Cup this summer, you take victory over minnows at your peril.

Over on Sky, Julian Warren was making this very point, telling Matt Holland that Armenia “is not an easy place to go”, like he’d tried it once and ended up in Azerbaijan.

“No,” agreed Matt, “it’s never easy going to those difficult places.”

And that’s true enough.

We had a consensus then, it wouldn’t be easy, although there was no agreement in the RTÉ studio on the subject of Paul Green, Eamon Dunphy reckoning that the Derby man was more than half decent, John Giles confessing to Bill that he “wouldn’t be that pushed about him”.

And as for Richard Dunne.

“He looks a bit bulky, Bill,” said Giles, leaving Bill half tempted to toss him a lifejacket, for fear he’d drown in a pool of start-of-campaign-anxiety.

Over in Yerevan Tony O’Donoghue told us that the hosts wanted the game switched to an earlier kick-off because they weren’t convinced their floodlights would work, but mercifully the request was turned down, ensuring that the Green Army that had travelled to Armenia – and remember, it’s no easy place to go – wouldn’t still be sightseeing as the anthems filled the little ground.

Line-ups time.

We already knew our own, but we learnt that Armenia had left Hambardzumyan and Manucharyan on the bench, with Hovsepyan and Arzumanyan starting. Who’d have forecast that?

Time for a quick chat with Giovanni, looking hale and hearty after his health scare last month.

Tony told him as much, “you’re looking very well”.

“I looking very, very well,” Trap agreed, “I hope to see the players looking like me.”

And then he talked about how “enthusiasmus” his squad was on the eve of the new campaign, brushing aside his translator Manuela Spinelli’s offers of help.

Seriously, how can you not love the fella?

Off we go.

A big hello to Aiden McGeadyski, hadn’t seen him in a while.

An uneasy first half, to be truthful, Armenia less than hospitable hosts.

The lad Mkhitaryan, Kenny Cunningham, noted, was causing us a problem or four, not least when he created half an opening for . . . well . . . someone else in an Armenian shirt.

Mkhitaryan, sighed Kenny, was leaving us with “our head on a swivel”.

And you had to assume that wasn’t a good thing.

Scoreless at half-time, which led Bill to take it that Armenia were troublingly useful.

“The fact that we haven’t taken our chances doesn’t make them any better,” said Gilesie, suggesting that their world ranking of 96, sandwiched by Libya and Panama, was about right.

Dunphy, meanwhile, reviewed Robbie Keane’s first-half miss with just the three words: “Oh. My. God.”

Worrying, then. Second half. Another Robbie chance. Oh. My. God.

“That sums up our luck, but it’s not down to luck, that’s a great opportunity, you have to be taking them,” said Kenny, who, by now, was fearing the worst, but still hoping for the best.

“It doesn’t matter when the goal comes, George, if it’s in the last minute we’ll take it,” he said.

George said nothing, but he must have been awful tempted to declare: “D’oh!”

Enter Keith Faw-he, as Matt christened him. Just the two words: Thank Heavens.

“A bit sweaty, but they deserved it,” said a perspiring Bill, his chirpy panel, spookily upbeat, stopping marginally short of booking hotels in Warsaw or Kiev, or possibly both.

Bill had his calculator out, figuring that 22 points would do the job, prompting Liam to gently remind him that it was a bit on the early side to be setting points targets.

Next, Andorra.

“That should be easy,” said Bill.

“You’ve been sat in that chair for 10 years,” said Liam, “you should know better”.

But then he half-conceded that Andorra should be an easy game of international football.

We’’ll see, but we’re up and running.