Irish should be ‘thrilled’ with performance: O’Neill

“He has been terrific for us during the qualification games and he is coming on strongly and I thought he accepted the responsibility magnificently and thrived on it and played very, very well”.

The smallest man on the field came up with the biggest moment of his far-too-short worldwide career when he scored the goal which gave Ireland the lead and gave us all hope for a few minutes, before Sweden engineered a goal via the head of Ciarán Clark. The boys were unlucky but we’ll take the point.

“Getting a goal for Ireland in the Euros is a great achievement”. We’re disappointed to have conceded an equaliser but I can’t fault their performance, they were terrific.

Ibrahimovic made the difference for Sweden but he wasn’t the best player on the pitch.

I suppose the main difference now is that there isn’t a team like Saudi Arabia in the group.

Belgium lost their first game against Italy last night, and will be eager to register their first win against Ireland in Bordeaux on Saturday.

No one deserved that moment more than Wes.

However, O’Neill was quick to keep feet firmly on the ground after he, the rest of the staff and the players watched the second half of Italy’s 2-0 victory over the Belgians in Lyon after returning to their hotel.

James McCarthy 6.5 – exhausted as the game went on but knitted things together in midfield.

Captain John O’Shea, whose late equaliser in Germany garnered a precious point towards the qualification fund, came agonisingly close to adding to his modest tally of three senior global goals when he only just failed to connect with central defensive partner Clark’s flick-on at the back post. Then we scored the goal just after half time. I was a little bit surprised that Martin O’Neill started with the diamond formation but it’s one that suits Wes Hoolahan to a tee and he flourished at the tip of that in the number 10 position. A goal deflates you.

Most of the talk around Martin O’Neill’s side in the build-up to the game centred on how crucial set-pieces were likely to be for a side renowned for their guts but short on guile, and an early corner from Glenn Whelan nearly proved the point, as his outswinging delivery was flicked on by Ciaran Clark towards John O’Shea at the back post, who somehow failed to make contact with the goal gaping, subsequently distracting the waiting Shane Long.

And in that time he has racked up 51 goals, a record that would add invaluable experience to a young attacking unit of Marcus Rashford (18), Anthony Martial (20) and Memphis Depay (22).

Wes looked completely at home on that stage yesterday but I wasn’t surprised that he did at all.

“It’s great work from Seamus (Coleman) and it’s just come to me and I’ve caught it on the half-volley and was delighted to see it go in the back of the net”.

And Ireland boss O’Neill said: “It’s a massive disappointment because we dominated the game and played brilliantly”.

Sweden’s biggest threat came down the left through full-back Olsson, but Ireland stood firm to earn a point which sees them beat the points total set in the group stages at Euro 2012.

Coleman provided the assist for Hoolahan’s goal but Martin O’Neill will have noted how frequently the right-back was exposed at the other end. You’ve got to take the positives from the game.

“This was a winnable game for us with the way we performed”.