The first-half Twitter reaction to Bosnia v Ireland

So far, so good. Sort of.

A 0-0 draw in Bosnia would, on the face of it, seem a good result for Ireland from Friday's first leg against Bosnia. Sure, it would lead to an extremely nervy return game at the Aviva on Monday night where a Bosnian away goal would leave Ireland needing to score twice, but a nail-biting 90 minutes in Dublin would be far more welcome than a tie that's all but gone. But there's still a long way to go – the second half of the first half if you're working to the old cliche that the first leg is just the first half. The first half of the first half – the first eighth of the game if you're following the old cliche (OK, we'll stop now) – went in a familiar pattern. Just like the five stages of grief, Ireland matches follow a watertight formula: pessimism; baseless optimism; realisation that we're pretty rubbish; unfounded belief that we might still nick it; joy/despair. Zenica is no different. Here's how the first 45 played out on Twitter It began with optimism and encouragement from someone we'd much rather was on the pitch rather than tweeting from Dublin. https://twitter.com/ShaneLong7/status/665253340620718080 And a novel idea on how we could match the atmosphere drummed up by 11,000 home fans in Zenica. https://twitter.com/pyjamas_black/status/665254572995313664 Quickly the reality dawns. https://twitter.com/MiguelDelaney/status/665259961405087744 Followed by defensive errors. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/665258286766284801 Though maybe it's all a cunning plan. https://twitter.com/evanfanning/status/665258325265788930 And a call to calm the f*ck down. https://twitter.com/dubsoulrebel/status/665262040433471488 And some more encouragement. https://twitter.com/StephanieRoche9/status/665262161560805377 And a realisation that nothing changes. Ever. https://twitter.com/RichieMcCormack/status/665260818225864704 And the view from Bosnia. https://twitter.com/sasaibrulj/status/665265499845038080 https://twitter.com/sasaibrulj/status/665266257986519040 Still, 0-0 at the break. We'll take it.