This is a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and the Irish enmity to England has very deep roots. There is a program on the Smithsonian Cable Channel, “Cromwell: God’s Executioner”, that details just one series of episodes in a very long line.
It appears that this feeling is diminishing now but I have a hunch that it is still a bred-in-the-bones thing that can resurface. When you experience an 800+ year battle for independence from a much stronger nation, this feeling does not disappear after just a generation or two.
True. Yet I see so many ignorant fools on FR begging for "let it all crash" and "bring on civil war II."
They have no idea how such things typically go, as with 1916 in Ireland or 1920's in Berlin.