They say that a week is a long time in politics.
Well it can be an eternity in sports.
Just one week ago the Irish soccer team was contemplating an exit from the qualifying stage of the 2026 World Cup, which will be played for here in the United States, and also in Mexico and Canada.
The Irish team, managed by Iceland's Heimir Hallgrímsson, had been up against it during their qualifying campaign.
They had lost to Armenia along the way. A game against mighty Portugal, even at home in Dublin, looked like a mountain just too steep to climb.
But a funny thing happened on the way to World Cup oblivion. Ireland beat Portugal, Ronaldo and all.
And Ronaldo beat himself by earning a Red Card.
The fans cramming into the Aviva Stadium - most of them there in part to clap eyes on Cristiano Ronaldo - went into the kind of paroxysm of joy that is only possible when fueled by near disbelief.
But now Ireland had a problem.
It was called Hungary and a game in Budapest.
Might the win over Portugal - a fantastic memory for sure - end up being just one big tease, a case of so near yet so far?
Well, one way or another it was off to the city that comes in two parts: Buda and Pest.
Would there be a second triumphant act in store for the boys in green and their green army followers?
The question was certainly out there. It would be interesting to ask all those fans if they had placed bets on an Irish win in Budapest.
It would be quite a turn up for the books if many responded in the affirmative.
But hope, as they say, lives eternal.
The game against Hungary was never going to be anything but something akin to a run up a very steep hill.
But the Irish ran. And they ran. Up and up.
One goal down then one goal each. 2-1 down and then 2-2.
And, in the dying seconds, a miracle.
Or rather a goal courtesy of Troy Parrott who, in the passage of that one week, had emerged as the savior of all Irish hopes and dreams.
Parrott scored all Ireland's five goals in the games against Portugal and Hungary.
More than one Irish fan will now get down on his or her knees each and every night between now and next spring praying to heaven that the Dublin wunderkind doesn't get injured.
The Irish wins seem big enough to secure entry into the World Cup proper.
But they were short of the line.
The Republic's team will enter a playoff competition next spring with games against teams yet to be identified.
More time for nerves to jingle.
But now there is also reason for hope, and not a little expectation.
That said, the next few months will feel like an eternity for those who hope and expect.
The revival of Irish soccer fortune was, of course, accompanied by a big win at the Aviva last Saturday by the Irish rugby team.
The rugby players had tasted recent disappointment by losing to the New Zealand All Blacks at Soldier field in Chicago.
A subsequent win over Japan provided only so much balm.
The win over the Wallabies was against a team down on its luck of late but the manner of the Irish victory will encourage all in the Irish camp as they prepare to play the world champion and world number one South Africa Springboks this coming weekend.
This will be a hard one, another run uphill. But you never know.
Few ever figured that Liverpool would have such a hard time of it so soon after winning the Premiership.
At the beginning of the season some would have smiled at the idea of the Patriots and Broncos running up so many wins.
But that's sports for you.
A surprise is always possible; even when you think it impossible.
