Republic of Ireland shoot up the FIFA rankings following Austria triumph

"You'll never beat the Irish," may have started life out as a battle cry for the support, but the recent results suggest the team are starting to believe that message.

The Boys In Green are sitting proudly on top of Group D of the European Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup after going unbeaten in their first four games. After sharing the spoils of their opening game with Serbia 2-2, Ireland have racked up three wins on the trot against Georgia, Moldova and most recently, Austria. The latter being arguably the most impressive considering Ireland entered into the match in the lion's den as underdogs, but walked away with all three points and top spot in the group thanks to James McClean's goal. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/801201637805195264 The official Fifa rankings were released on Thursday and unsurprisingly the phenomenal Austria result has seen Ireland receive a significant boost. Ireland have leapfrogged Austria, jumping up 10 places to 23rd, just one place behind Netherlands. Elsewhere, Northern Ireland rose four places to 32nd while England and Wales both slipped one place to 13th and 12th respectively. Scotland are having a considerably worse time at the moment having skidded down a further 10 places to 67th.   Argentina continue their reign as the world's highest ranked team, with Brazil overtaking Germany to claim second place. Chile and Belgium complete the top while there is little to no movement from spots six through 10.