They didn’t know it at the time but Mick McCarthy and Age Hareide were both kicking off their last game in the job when Ireland met Denmark at the Aviva Stadium in November 2019.

It was a night where the locals were again frustrated by their Scandinavian foes, with the Irish trend of coming from behind to rescue a point not enough in a game that they needed to win.

Hareide’s Denmark did enough to avoid disaster, securing qualification with a pragmatic approach that was his calling card.

The Christian Eriksen-inspired five-goal show two years previously was very much out of character.

The Danish football authorities had already decided Kasper Hjulmand would be replacing Hareide after Euro 2020, similar to how McCarthy was keeping the seat warm for Stephen Kenny.

When Covid-19 struck and the finals were postponed, Denmark followed through on their intentions even though Hareide had got them over the line.

The outgoing manager was naturally displeased, and the Norwegian subsequently said that he felt an even greater level of sympathy for McCarthy when the FAI decided to press ahead with their time dated plan while their Euros fate hung in the air.

Hjulmand was hired because of his vision for how the Danish team would play, a belief they could aspire to a more attractive brand of football than the Hareide way.

The younger man was the romantic choice, whereas Hareide was viewed as the seasoned operator with a proven track record.

Sound familiar?

This is a succession plan that has run smoothly, however, and this Euros adventure has cemented the status of Hjulmand as the right man for the job.

His empathetic response to Eriksen’s shuddering setback has won acclaim locally and around Europe.

But he already had credit in the bank after entering into the competition with an impressive winning record.

There are important differences between the Danish football culture and the Irish equivalent that need to be stressed.

While the 1980s here brought Jack Charlton’s direct approach to success, Denmark thrilled with a free-flowing style that allowed them to qualify for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico – a first appearance at the finals.

Preben Elkjaer and Michael Laudrup came to the fore as they won their group, with a 6-1 thrashing of Uruguay, before falling on their sword dramatically with a 5-1 round-of-16 exit at the hands of Spain.

They may have won the Euros in 1992, but that 1980s template remains on a pedestal of sorts.

Hareide’s predecessor Morten Olsen was viewed as an idealist with his attempts to play an open brand, and his seasoned replacement had a straightforward philosophy.

“To me, good football is winning matches,” he said.

Denmark jumped from 42nd to 10th in the world rankings under his watch, in addition to going on an unbeaten run stretching two and a half years.

But it was the rising profile of their squad that convinced the top brass that they could aspire to something better.

In the season that they decided to make the change after secretive meetings, no country without a team from their league in the Champions League group stages had more players in the competition than Denmark.

Still, Hareide’s backers took a dim view of Hjulmand’s early work. The Johan Cruyff-obsessed manager was derided for calling a meeting of sportsmen, politicians, artists and business people to discuss the ‘ideals’ that should be reflected in the team.

If he had struggled to make an impact, scorn would have followed.

Hjulmand didn’t have a big-profile playing CV to fall back on.

His career was cut short by injury and he studied business in the USA before taking his badges and moving up the ladder from assistant to manager with Nordsjaelland.

His star rose quickly there and after delivering their first Danish title, he left for Germany to replace Thomas Tuchel at Mainz.

But he failed to get off on the right foot and was gone within a season; epitaphs suggested that his style didn’t work with a different group of players.

Nordsjaelland took him back for another three-year stay which ended two months before the announcement he was the anointed one.

The biography of Hjulmand describes him as a football dreamer. In these Euros, he is experiencing a beautiful reality.

Victory against the Czech Republic this evening would bring things to another level.

Czech Republic v Denmark,
Live, RTÉ2/ITV, 5.0