Scotland just don't get it.
There they were on Tuesday night, dancing on the pitch at Hampden Park, as if beating Spain actually means something.
Has no-one told them that the victories that matter are the moral ones?
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Just 24 hours earlier, Ireland lost at home to France, and the reaction has been fascinating.
The home team arguably deserved a draw but didn't really threaten France's goal until the last 10 minutes.
Then they went close due to a header from a centre-half.
Go through recent Irish teams - whether managed by Mick McCarthy, Martin O'Neill and Giovanni Trapattoni - and the finale was very familiar.
Ireland bombing forward in a frenetic manner, with no real finesse to the approach.
Crosses and corner-kicks into the box and, usually, a centre-half either finding the net or going close.
This is the brave new dawn of the Stephen Kenny era that we've all been told about?
Of course, there is an element of tongue in cheek to the above.
Ireland did play well in many aspects of the game against what seemed to be a largely disinterested France team.
France were typically French. That's why they've dropped points in qualifying games to the likes of Luxembourg, Turkey, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Denmark in qualifying games under Didier Deschamps.
When they can be bothered, as against the Netherlands last Friday, they are devastating.
When they're not in the mood, they sleepwalk their way through games.
For all the justified praise that Seamus Coleman and Chiedozie Ogbene have got for the way they doubled up on Kylian Mbappe, the rating the best player in the world got in L'Equipe - just three out of 10 - told the story.
It's doubtful if Mbappe had a shower after the game, as he never broke sweat. He just went through the motions, figuring victory was inevitable.
Before kick-off, the loudest cheers were reserved for two men - the golden child, Evan Ferguson, and manager Stephen Kenny.
He has done plenty right as Ireland manager, made a fair few mistakes too, but The Cult of Kenny is stronger than ever.
Just look at the reaction to fairly mild criticism from Brian Kerr on Virgin.
“It was a bit better, but the end of the story is that we lost 1-0 again to France, that’s three times in a row when they’ve come to Dublin,” he said.
“No matter what spin Stephen puts on it, we got beaten in the match and had very little possession until the last few minutes. Their goalkeeper had one save to make, our goalkeeper made two good saves and was well beaten on the goal.
"If they make this tournament, I'll be delighted. I want to see them getting there, but I don't want any excuses or exaggerated reports on how we played and that's what we've had in a lot of games.
"Untruths been told after matches about deserving to win and deserving to draw when that hasn't been the case.
"But it was a decent performance tonight and they had a right go late on and were unlucky probably not to get a goal."
Now it's hardly akin to Eamon Dunphy throwing down his pen after the draw with Egypt at Italia '90 and saying Jack Charlton should be ashamed for sending a team out to play in that manner.
But Kerr has been pilloried - especially on the countless social media accounts that won't accept anything other than cheerleading of the Ireland team.
That isn't healthy. Dissenting voices are always necessary and Kerr has done enough in the game for his opinion to carry weight.
His own spell as Ireland manager didn't go to plan, and Kenny has already been in charge of the national team for more games than Kerr was given.
Kerr has always felt he wasn't given a fair crack of the whip by the FAI.
Many years ago, he made a very valid point about media coverage of the Ireland team.
The Dubliner pointed out that we tend to go overboard with praise when things are going well, and go in too hard when they aren't.
The best approach is taking a step back and being a bit more measured. Seeing the good in the bad days, and the bad in the good days.
For the most part, that is how Kerr has analysed the Ireland team under Kenny. Those who want him to wave green pom-poms need to wise up.
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