A valuable exercise for Martin
MARTIN O’NEILL says he got all he wanted from Ireland’s end of season games.
Ireland drew with Celtic in Scott Brown’s testimonial in Glasgow, got the runaround from France in Paris and stuck it to the USA in Dublin with a late, late winner.
And O’neill defended his decision to play a starstudded France side bound for the World Cup even though it didn’t do his team’s confidence much good.
That 2-0 defeat played out in a deluge extended Ireland’s winless run to four games before getting back on track against the Americans. But O’neill said: “The game was chosen (for me) but personally I would never shy away from it. I think it is good for us.
“You want to win football matches but they are friendlies and you can experiment to some extent in these games.
“We can learn things from playing against the very, very best players and they are the best players they are one of the best sides in Europe
“USA wouldn’t have been the same class of opposition. We were playing at home and trying to win the game but you can pick things up.”
O’neill added: “Are you saying that debutants are going to make such a massive impact in a short period of time? That would be doubtful.
“But when we get going into competitive mode in September, October and November, if some of these players make the squad then won’t be overawed. They’ll be ready and will know what to expect.”