Jeff Hendrick and Darren Randolph have served Ireland fans with notice to help smash Georgia tonight.
Tennis balls could be thrown onto the pitch in protest at John Delaney who left his post as FAI chief executive after an extraordinary week of financial controversy.
But it wasn’t game, set and match as Delaney only moved sideways into a newly created ‘executive Vice President’ role.
His monster €360,000 salary drops to €120,000 per year but many fans cannot fathom how he’s still on the payroll.
Earlier yesterday, Ireland boss Mick McCarthy joked that he will leave his tennis racket behind tonight.
But Randolph and Hendrick last night pleaded with fans to get behind the players in the right way.
Mick McCarthy looking for football 'utopia' against Georgia
Goalkeeper Randolph said: “Come out and support the team. We need support to get off to a good start in the group. It would give us a platform, something to build on.
“It would be a lot easier to go and play if the Aviva is rocking, if there’s an unbelievable atmosphere.”
And Hendrick - who was Saturday’s match-winner in Gibraltar - said: “We all need to stick together.
The fans need to push us on in games. That’s what we need.”
Ahead of the game, Ireland boss McCarthy joked about Delaney’s newly created ‘executive Vice President’ title.
“That’s going to be a hell of a title for his door…a wide door," he chuckled.
But on protest reports, McCarthy said: “I can’t do anything about it. I’m not going to take a tennis racket with me.
“It’s not going to help us play any better, that’s for sure. I hope it’s not the case and that we can overlook that.
“The fans want us to win and to give us the best chance of that, get behind us. They're the best fans, they're fabulous and I’d like them to support the team.
“If they have to demonstrate then I’d like if they do it somewhere else and at another time.
“We’re coming to play a game and that’s my issue. I don’t get involved in things I can’t affect and this is one of them.
McCarthy added: “We had great a feeling in '88, '90, '94 and 2002 and the mood is great when the fans are behind us.”
Ireland star Jeff Hendrick hopes scoring floodgates opened in Gibraltar
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