Feeling better about England’s chances after Wednesday’s victory and safe passage into the last 16? writes Martin Swain.

Then don’t tune into the Irish broadcasting company RTE’s World Cup coverage. While the BBC’s team of pundits were delivering an up-beat verdict on the performance against Slovenia, the Irish equivalent continued to play the role of blunt-talking, upstart neighbours to the snooty lot across the road.

The legendary Eamon Dunphy has made a tidy living out of weighing into mainstream thinking and is nothing if not consistent – 20 years ago he was slaughtering Jack Charlton’s Ireland for their alehouse football even as the rest of his nation celebrated a wonderful adventure at Italia ’90.

So while the English were relishing their first win of the tournament, Dunphy was, well, less than impressed.

“We can be rational. We are not involved. And they were astonishingly poor,” Dunphy said of England’s victory. “Capello is deluded if he thought that was good.

What we saw from Rooney, Lampard and Joe Cole when he come on was pretty awful and I can’t believe how bad Gerrard was.

“Given the resources at his disposal, Capello is doing a pretty average job.”

Dunphy wasn’t alone. Fellow panelist Ronnie Whelan, the ex-Liverpool and Ireland midfielder, called England “inept” and had little time for a player hailed for his performance on this side of the water.

“Milner on the wing gave nearly every ball away save for the one for the goal,” he summised.

And Johnny Giles, who has never be known to take prisoners when he takes the safety catch off his verbal gunfire, mocked not only the notion of England congratulating themselves for the job done against “astonishingly poor” opposition but even the inane touchline questioning from Gabby Yorath/Logan which followed it.

“I don’t know who she was . . . she seemed very attractive which is probably why she was doing the interview in the first place,” said Albion’s waspish old manager.

Grumpy old men or pillars of sobering wisdom? Perhaps a little of both – and while it may not do much for our optimism, as an antidote to the bland banter of Lineker, Hansen, Shearer and Co, it’s darn good television.