Another camp, another ravaged squad. And this time? An unforgiving opponent.
England were in no mood to get dragged into a dog fight at Wembley and two first half goals had them sitting pretty for most of the night as they dispensed of Ireland with minimum fuss.
3-0 the official scoreboard read in the end. Or so it said anyway...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHgcBC6sw7-/
With Aaron Connolly and Callum Robinson pulling out of the squad at the start of the week, the retirement of David McGoldrick felt all the more drastic as Stephen Kenny got together with his squad for his third camp.
To compound that, Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy were late withdrawals ahead of the England match and three times the Republic's defence was breached on the night.
1-0
Harry Maguire pounces as a corner is swung back in at the second time of asking.
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/1326983997092716563
2-0
Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish come at the Irish rearguard and the Dortmund player is given far too much space and shows why he's a cut above as he effortlessly dispatches.
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/1326987298580344833
3-0
Cyrus Christie fouls Saka in the second half. Calvert-Lewin does the rest.
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/1326998805275963395
There wasn't a feeling of anger or disappointment after this result - just an acceptance that Gareth Southgate had far superior resources and the game panned out as expected.
Kevin Doyle summed this up in his post-match analysis on RTÉ.
"Every England player has a potential to be world class and we just don't have that."
Doyle broke it down a little further but there wasn't much else to say.
"They were excellent," he said.
"Their young players, the way they played, it's hard for us to deal with them.
"I think the disappointment for Kenny will be the goals they did concede, two of them were from set pieces. That's something you can physically work on.
"Our overall play was fine, we started off well. Listen, they are just a better team. They have a better 11, better players.
"We were fine and we finished the game strong."
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/1327009049628577798
Richie Sadlier echoed the difference in quality between the two outfits.
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status/1327010374999216129
