It's quite hard for countries who;
- Have much smaller populations
- Have different traditions, GAA, Rugby, Caber Tossing
- Better things to be doing
To compare to a larger nation who have a strong tradition in *insert nasal American accent* soccer.
Given that, it's rather a pointless exercise to compare them.
What makes fools out of them are;
- The larger louts
- The undying superiority complex incessantly fueled by Red Top/Sky nonsense
- The drought of talent/desire of late
Any time Ireland has gone to the WC, we have the craic, and sure if we get out of the group