‘We didn’t get going from the very start’
‘Wales had a lot of runners, so it was a really difficult night for us’
SHANE DUFFY summed up the frustration of Ireland’s players by admitting they felt embarrassed with the pummelling they received from Wales.
It has been a steep decline for Ireland on a competitive level since Duffy nodded home the opener against Denmark in the second leg of the World Cup play-off.
They conceded five that night and another four whisked past them last night.
The Derryman was eager to absolve manager Martin O’Neill of blame, claiming the players didn’t carry out a game-plan to deal with the threat of Gareth Bale.
‘We didn’t get going from the off and it wasn’t good enough,’ said the Brighton defender.
‘We didn’t need to say much in the dressing room afterwards because it was a little bit embarrassing out there when Wales were keeping the ball and wasting time.
‘We take full responsibility for what happened. We’re playing for Ireland and that wasn’t good enough. That’s the bottom line.
‘It went wrong from the first minute when it came to me and they won the ball. That set the tempo and we didn’t get on the front foot.
‘Things went downhill from the first goal after six minutes. It’s one of those games that we didn’t really know what went wrong.’
The centre-back revealed that the team had prepared by trying to repel the threat of Bale but the Irish defence was ruthlessly exposed when he turned inside to smash in the second goal.
Bales had started as the sole striker only to drift wide and deep to wreak havoc.
‘It was sort of difficult for me and Ciaran Clark at the back because we had nobody to mark. We were getting dragged all over the place by him and Aaron Ramsey,’ said Duffy.
‘Wales, they had runners coming in, so it was difficult night for both of us.
‘We all know Bale likes to cut in and shoot on his left foot. We spoke about it and worked on that before so that’s down to the players. We’ve to go out and take the message onto the pitch.
‘We didn’t do it well enough tonight and got punished for it.’
Duffy is backing the team to bounce back, admitting the transition from the last campaign is still far from complete.
Last night’s collapse was a long way down from the highs of their last visit to the Welsh capital when James McClean’s winner clinched that World Cup play-off spot.
From those highs, Duffy is absorbing the lows, stressing that he’ll ready for the flak the team are going to take following this latest mishap.
‘We’ve lost a lot of senior players from the World Cup campaign. There are new ones coming in so that will take time,’ he said
‘It is a challenging period but the fans were great at the end of the match.
‘It does hurt. We had a special night the last time we were here. We had full confidence but it didn’t go our way.
‘It’s part of the football that you take criticism and I’m sure it is going to come our way. Even personally for myself. I’ll have to dust it off and move on.
‘As I’ve got older, I’m learning to deal with the lows a bit better. It wasn’t the first bad night and won’t be the last.’
The one consolation of the night was a first goal for Shaun Williams. Brought on as a substitute for Conor Hourihane, he pounced on Aaron Ramsey’s slip to get off the mark.
‘I just pressed the midfielder and luckily enough he slipped,’ said the Millwall man. ‘I took a good touch and saw the keeper steaming out towards me.
‘On my debut in France the goalkeeper saved one because I went low. This time, I learned from it, dinked it over him and the rest is history.
‘Personally, obviously scoring on my competitive debut was a dream come true. But overall, it’s disappointing after the result.’