But Liam Brady has never been one of the sunshine boys. Player or pundit, Liam seemingly never saw a blue sky where he didn’t see a cloud as well. As the RTE “senior analyst” (E Dunphy™) these days, Chippy is there to remind us not to leave home without a coat and umbrella in case it might rain. He is one of nature’s grumpy souls. And now that he is 65, officially of pension age, he is maturing like a good cheddar into a grumpy ould codger too. This is to be welcomed. Indeed it is reassuring to see that he doesn’t intend changing at this stage, not least because grumpy people are often the best company anyway. They usually have a droll sense of humour, when they’re in the mood to show it. And their sensibility generally bends towards seriousness rather than glibness. Brady is a pundit for the viewer who likes neat whiskey and rational pessimism.

So, he was never likely to be infected by the general bonhomie that was bouncing around the stadium on Thursday. He is far too hard-headed for that. The fans, the players and manager were happy with the 0-0 result. Brady was underwhelmed. The game was “a damp squib” and “a bit of a sparring match”. Portugal had put out their B team and “came to play within themselves”. They were keeping their powder dry for their showdown with Serbia today. They came for the draw and to not waste too much energy in getting it. Ireland didn’t put them under pressure until Pepe was sent off with ten minutes to go. Ireland created very few chances. As for Stephen Kenny, “I think the jury is still very much out.”

He was bang on the money in his analysis, except perhaps for that last line. Because for starters, there is always more than one jury in these affairs. In fact there are several, from the public to the commentariat to the FAI management to the dressing room. In the hierarchy of juries, the latter is most important to any manager. And if their testimony counts for anything, then Kenny has the job sewn up already for the next couple of years. The players are palpably and patently bonded to their gaffer. It has been a consistent refrain from them in their public comments for many months. They like Kenny, they like his coaching staff; they are enjoying working and learning under this regime.

Shane Duffy reiterated their loyalty post-match on Thursday. “We’re all playing for the manager,” he said. “I think he’s brilliant. He’s had a tough start with Covid. We’re going in the right direction. We’re all playing for him and fighting for him. The team is growing in confidence, you could see it tonight the way we were set up against one of the best teams in the world.”

Duffy himself is the embodiment of the rising tide. This most admirable of professionals is the archetypal old-school centre half. If he was a racehorse he’d be a winter chaser, a National Hunt stayer. Now in the autumn of his career, he emerged from his carthorse chrysalis on Thursday night and blossomed before our eyes into, dare one say, a thoroughbred, an elegant distributor and composed reader of the play. He was, of all things, comfortable with the ball at his feet.

It was like watching a cleaning lady defiantly throwing away her mop and her Marigolds and in a puff of smoke re-emerging as a ballerina. Suddenly it was no longer impossible to envisage the big Derry man clearing his lines in pointe shoes and a green tutu. All said, it has been quite the transformation for the Brighton & Hove Albion bruiser.

Virtually every veteran has raised his game under Kenny. And of course the new generation of players streaming into the ranks are loving it too. You’d expect that, irrespective of who’s in charge, because it is all new and exciting to them. But the manager and his coaching staff appear to be wrapping these rookies in the necessary confidence and technical support to enable them adapt to this level of the game.

So far so good. On Thursday the team looked a well integrated, cohesive unit. The structure was solid, no player in midfield or defence was unduly exposed or isolated. The covering and tracking and running prevented the appearance of big spaces for the visitors to exploit. In possession Ireland looked competent in their passing and movement. In Faro six weeks ago Portugal had almost 70 per cent possession. On Thursday their tally was down to 51 per cent. In Faro they battered Ireland with shots and chances: 29 attempts on goal to the visitors’ eight; 14 corners to Ireland’s three. In Dublin it was 12 shots each and four corners each. Ireland radically closed the gap.

In other words, there was measurable progress again from a side that had finally been making tentative, incremental improvements since early autumn. But Kenny’s project is still a fragile flower. In the specific case of last Thursday’s match, Brady’s caveats remain valid. Portugal started with five or six of their best players on the bench and they did the job they came to do in the lowest gear they could get away with. It was probably because they’d been so dominant in Faro that they felt they could take these risks in Dublin. Putting it crudely, one could easily conclude that the Portuguese didn’t really rate this Ireland team. Never mind Brady’s reservations, Portugal’s strategy on the night was arguably the most damning judgement of all on Ireland’s current stature in the international arena.

And ultimately they were vindicated. They evidently could not envisage the Irish inflicting much damage on them. Ireland just would not have the creativity in midfield, nor the pace or the class up front to inflict the lethal wounds. Portugal took risks with their selection in defence, on the grounds that the home team wouldn’t be good enough to punish them. And so it proved.

This is the problem that long pre-dates Kenny and that has remained a fundamental issue. Ireland were almost utterly sterile in attack against Portugal, as they have been for years against all comers great and small. It will be the central problem facing Ireland again this evening, against Luxembourg. Once more, having neutralised a big power with familiar Irish resistance and spirit and organisation, the onus is on them to prove they have some semblance of a cutting edge in the final third of the field.

If Luxembourg manage to prove yet again that Ireland don’t, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the juries, all of them, will need further convincing about the manager. But a couple of goals and a convincing victory would probably end what has been for Kenny a long and painful period of probation.