Shane Long hoping Republic of Ireland can cause another Euro 2016 upset

Amber said she wasn’t sure if Ireland would beat France but hopes her brother will score again.

After the Republic of Ireland’s historic 1-0 victory over Italy to book their place in the last 16 of Euro 2016, one of the most poignant images of the tournament was served up.

Martin O’Neill has insisted the Republic of Ireland have put Thierry Henry’s handball firmly behind them as they attempt to dump Euro 2016 hosts France out of their own tournament.

“I really don’t want to think that this is the end for us”.

The subsequent pandemonium in the stadium rivalled that of Euro ’88, Italia ’90, U.S. ’94 and any of the other great moments in Ireland’s football history.

“But we can really make it special now”.

“They’ve got a good team, a strong team, good mentality, physically very strong – look at their qualifying campaign”.

Ronnie Whelan’s kung-fu goal shot against Russian Federation can’t be classed as a memory for me and Mick McCarthy was a manager first and a player second, according to the archives in my mind.

“We’re going to leave it all out on the pitch and hopefully get that bit of luck to help us over the line”.

“What we needed to do was re-energise the team, players would come in who feel they’ve been waiting for a few weeks for a chance to play”.

In addition, the Republic have only been allocated around 4,500 tickets for the game at the Stade de Lyon after their fans vastly out-numbered Italy’s in Lille in midweek. “He’s absolutely buzzing for the next game and they’re ready to take on France”. We’re well used to that sort of routine. There’s a good deal of fraudulence involved as I didn’t exist for either occasion and therefore have no tangible memories as a reference. We have all the recovery here that we need.

There was still a job to be done, however, and Ireland stuck to their task to close out the final five minutes, plus an additional three of stoppage time.

“We have to recover for Spain”, Conte said. We always seem to be the plus one invitee who can come to the party but won’t be getting access to the caviar dish.

However, both assistant manager Roy Keane and skipper Robbie Keane have played down that aspect, and Long agrees.

The Irish played with their characteristic grit and determination in a foul-filled contest that more closely resembled a rugby match than a soccer game.Ireland dominated possession in the first half and Italy’s first chance didn’t come until the 54th minute, when Simone Zaza fired just over the crossbar. We don’t even think about that.

Asked about that night by a French journalist, he replied: “We don’t have that mentality”.