Still, better to laugh than to cry, eh?

Waterford Whispers captured the mood when highlighting how Rice’s conscious uncoupling came less than 24 hours before St Valentine’s Day.

“Calming itself down, Ireland unfollowed Rice on Instagram despite knowing that after a few glasses of wine tomorrow night it would be prowling social media for pictures of Rice with England, only serving to deepen its heartache.”

And, make no mistake, there will be more Declan Rices. Plenty more nights of spilled claret and days spent veering between raw anger at being dumped to heartbroken reminiscences and thoughts of what-might-have-been.

If there is any consolation now then we can at least say that we have definitively moved on from Jack Grealish and his slick hair and shin pads.

The hold the Anglo-Irish branch of the family has had on the psyche here has been out of proportion ever since 1965 when Shay Brennan became the first man born beyond these shores to pull on the green jersey and represent the land of his forefathers, although the notion that the Irish team has been crammed with British-sourced beef ever since isn’t true.

We have the Charlton years to thank for that impression.

The Republic played a dozen games between Euro ‘88, Italia ‘90, and USA ‘94 and not once were there more players in the starting XI born in the 32 counties than men from across the Irish Sea.

The first time that was the case at a major championship was against Cameroon in 2002, at the 13th time of asking, but it’s actually been that way ever since.

Go back to pre-Charlton and the split fell this side as well.

When Don Givens hit his hat-trick against the USSR in 1974; when Liam Brady’s goal undid the French in 1977; and when Mark Lawrenson’s late diving header secured a 2-1 win over the Dutch in 1980, the overwhelming majority of those involved were players born and bred in Ireland and, for the most part, somewhere in Dublin.

And it’s worth dwelling on those distant days for a minute here.

Ireland may not have qualified for any major tournaments on the back of any of those famous victories but they still go to show that Irish teams replete with players who learned the game in these parts — even if that was in an ad hoc manner that had nothing to do with the FAI — have been capable of standing their ground against the best.

True, those were sides with stars playing their football for the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Arsenal but others among them took the boat back to Dublin having started their journeys from less glamorous abodes that included Walsall, QPR, West Bromwich Albion, Derby County, and Preston North End.

And they could play football with the best of them.

“There was a swagger to Ireland’s first-half play that was calculated to inspire,” wrote Billy George in these pages after the French win.

“They played with such pace and vision as to test France to the full. And while they could not prevent France from shattering their control on the game in the second half Ireland deserved to have more than a one-goal advantage before then.”

So it’s frustrating to see that, over 40 years later, we still spend an inordinate amount of our time sweating over the services of players born and bred in Birmingham and London.

Forget that Rice sent his ‘Dear John’ note in the run-up to Valentine’s. The fact it was posted in the days leading up to the new Airtricity League season is much more apposite.

pic.twitter.com/L6Du9X8wNd

— Declan Rice (@_DeclanRice) February 13, 2019

Niall Quinn has taken some amount of flak for sticking his head above the parapet and suggesting the domestic game should amount to more and that it may actually be a good thing if we could retain our best and brightest here while they’re still too young to vote, but you’d wonder how many of those decrying Rice’s decision have ever paid heed to the domestic game?

Embracing the Irish diaspora is one thing — a distinctly good thing at that — but the manner in which the FAI and the game as a whole here has clung to the bosoms of players who have been brought up in another association’s back yard is a source of shame today as the underfunded, undervalued, and overlooked domestic league gets under way.

Sound business sense alone would suggest that we have more to gain by committing to a meaningful, long-term relationship with our clubs and league here than by flitting our eyes at players whose allegiances can never be certain.

To be stuck in a vicious cycle is one thing, to cling on so desperately while it spins is another.