Ireland’s O’Neill wants repeat performance against France

First the Romanian referee and his assistants failed to spot Angelo Ogbonna wrestling with Murphy in the area and then he ruled that Federico Bernardeschi played the ball fairly as he took out McClean.

Martin O’Neill has lifted the lid on what was said between himself and Roy Keane as they embraced upon the final whistle as Ireland made it through to the Euro 2016 knock-out stage. Particularly our energy levels.

Asked what he had said to Keane, O’Neill replied: “I told him to shave his beard”. The final ten minutes in Stade Pierre-Mauroy were played out on a heavy pitch and under a closed roof, leading to some fairly inhospitable conditions, barely conducive to light exercise let alone global football.

“But we did the other night and we want to do that against the French – give ourselves a chance”.

Our decision-making was very good – when to keep it and when to go long. The desire you have can make the difference. His first shot was saved by the Russian keeper, but he was able to put in the rebound – meaning they were two goals up inside 20 minutes. We went on a journey in 1982 that brought us up against the host nation, who we had to beat to get through to the quarter-finals, and that was an vast moment for us and one that I will never forget.

It’s not often we get to see Wales and Northern Ireland lock horns at a major tournament, particularly in the knockout stages. “We now have that ability”, he added.

“I’m sure we will be, that won’t be an issue”.

“The players are doing everything they have to”. Him and Robbie (Brady) have been fantastic. They would look to pretty blunt going forward as they struggled to break down Hungary – who wrapped things up in the closing stages thanks to a composed finish from Zoltan Stieber.

Football as a game delivers possible answers. We had a slightly different approach for the Italian match. Germany is a -233 favorite to win in regulation, while this game going to extra time would pay +339.

“That doesn’t mean to say we will do that against France, not necessarily”.

“It depends on the starting XI but it will be a unsafe to try and sit in and soak up pressure and try hit teams on the counter attack”. We dominated for periods of the game and played some phenomenal stuff.

“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”. We’re well used to that sort of routine. “Even when we scored, they kept us going”. Wales went into their clash with Russian Federation knowing that a win would take them into the knock-out stages regardless of what happened between England and Slovakia – the other match in Group B.

Mr Higgins paid tribute to the Irish fans’ good behaviour, echoing complements paid to Welsh and Northern Irish supporters for their conduct during the tournament so far.

“Perhaps we were punished when we were on top of the game, that’s when we conceded”. That’s easier said than done.

“The Italians made a lot of changes”.

Ireland’s reward is a match against France in Lyon on Sunday that will surely resonate for Ireland’s passionate fans as it will revive memories of the last time the two sides met in November 2009, in a two-legged playoff for the following year’s World Cup.