Fair.
It wasn't pretty, it didn't need to be.
The Republic of Ireland's World Cup dream is still alive after James McClean's superb strike gave them a 0-1 win against Wales in Cardiff. In doing so, they inflicted Wales' first competitive home defeat since September 2013 as their long wait to reach the World Cup goes on.
In a game of poor quality, Jeff Hendrick's tenacity fashioned a goal out of nothing.
After hassling and harrying the Welsh defense, the Burnley midfielder fired in a low cross that Harry Arter did brilliantly to stepover. Lying in waiting was the West Brom winger and he absolutely smashed the ball past Wayne Hennessey.
Heading into the recent series of fixtures, Wales were dealt a cruel blow after Gareth Bale was ruled out through injury. Bale's tally of 20 goals for Wales in all competitions since 2012 is more than the next three players combined. In fact, Bale has scored four times during this qualification campaign and he's undoubtedly Wales' talisman.
Bale has scored four times during this qualification campaign and there's no doubt that he's their talisman.
This being said, the Republic of Ireland were also missing their own keyman.
https://twitter.com/FAIFootballfans/status/917509706876416001
Granted, Seamus Coleman isn't as spectacular and devastating as the Real Madrid attacker is, but the Everton full-back is the Republic of Ireland's captain and he sets the standard that Martin O'Neill's men have to match.
As Irish fans will know, Coleman's tenacity and drive rescued a win against Georgia as he single-handedly created and scored a goal out of nothing.
At the start of the qualification process in Group D, the Republic of Ireland made a solid start having secured 10 points from a possible 12.
Fast forward to March 2017 as Wales travelled to Dublin for a match that was sadly overshadowed by Coleman's horrific injury following a poor challenge from Neil Taylor.
In the qualifiers that Coleman started for Ireland during this World Cup qualifying campaign, the men in green picked up 11 points from a possible 15.
Prior to tonight's match in Cardiff, since Coleman's injury, Ireland had only managed to take 5 points from a possible 12.
Coleman may not be regarded as a world-class player like Bale is, but there's no denying his importance to Martin O'Neill's side. Take a look at Ireland's win against Italy at Euro 2016 for further proof of this.
After the match tonight, Match of the Day pundit Gary Lineker said : "Congratulations to Ireland on making the play-offs. Just proved too much for Wales without their talisman. Brutal!"
Plenty of Irish supporters were quick to remind Lineker that Ireland were also missing their most influential player. Their captain and leader, Seamus Coleman.
https://twitter.com/fatfaceblue/status/917495112552329216
https://twitter.com/johnobyrne100/status/917491463012962304
https://twitter.com/AaronSheehan14/status/917493422516326400
https://twitter.com/scottyfulham13/status/917491246528114690
