Knight says group unity is key amid flat feeling
THERE were plenty of solemn expressions as the Irish players filed from the dressing room on Friday evening.
Liam Scales stopped and tried to put some rhyme and reason on an evening of mixed emotions, the Wicklow native had been waiting a long time to make his international debut, although he probably didn’t envisage it turning out in such a way.
Chiedozie Ogbene, the brightest spark of a dull display, explained that Ireland need to be more clinical. Greece took their chances. Ireland didn’t. If only it was that simple. There was something off about the Irish players all night. Jason Knight’s heavy touch early on after he did brilliantly to win possession summed up the night — and for many, this disappointing Euro campaign.
As the second half petered out to a drab conclusion, the confidence and morale of players seemed to be completely eroded. Like the supporters in the stand, those who bothered to stay until the final whistle, it felt like the team knew the game was up.
‘Goals change games and we certainly weren’t ruthless enough,’ the Bristol City dynamo sighed.
‘As a collective, they got their opportunities and they scored. We had good moments, we had chances, hit the post. But it is about being ruthless. In international games, you have got to be ruthless.’
While Greece made the most of their chances with the two goals, they also benefitted from poor decision-making and sloppiness in the Irish defence, two of the characteristics of this campaign. ‘The goals were definitely avoidable,’ Knight agreed.
‘And that is something we’ve got to work on because those goals were avoidable and that is something we are disappointed by as well.’ Despite winning only one game in this campaign, and that against bottom-feeder Gibraltar, Knight insists that the team has made progress but in such a highperformance environment, they get punished for any mistake.
‘I definitely think we have kicked on. Results-wise, it hasn’t been good enough and international football is unforgiving. You can’t take time to grow into it. You have got to take the chance, grab it while you can. International football at the highest level is a punishing game and you have got to be switched on in both boxes. So that’s down to us players, all of us, old and young, you have to take it. We have just got to perform better.’
While the support for Stephen Kenny among the Irish football public has gradually eroded over the course of this campaign, Knight remained full of praise for what the manager has done.
‘We’re all going to have a tough couple of days. Like I said over there, we’re a group. We win as a group, we lose as a group. He’s put a lot of us young lads in. I owe him a lot personally.
‘I can only speak for myself but we’re definitely fully behind the manager and the staff, so there’s no talk about that in the dressing room at all. It’s disappointing as a group and it’s going to take a group to fix it as well.’
Knight, at 22, is one of the players who became established under Kenny who will be approaching their peak when Euro 2028 comes to town. And perhaps at that stage, history will view this manager more favourably for giving so much youth a chance. But the midfielder wasn’t willing to look five years into the future as he left the Aviva Stadium on Friday.
‘It’s [Euro 2028] a long way off. We’ve just got to focus [on the present] and international caps are hard to come by and gold dust, so we need to take every chance as it comes. That’s hopefully for me and everyone else as well. That’s all we can focus on now.’
It is difficult not to think of the future though, especially as the present for Irish football is such a harsh and unforgiving place.
International football is unforgiving. You can’t take time to grow into it