IRELAND FIRST PASTA POST!

O’neill: Italian recipe can keep our noses in front

WALES are desperate to summon the spirit of Euro 2016 tonight – but Martin O’neill insists two can play that game. The Dragons bulldozed their way to the semi-finals in France but have hit a sticky patch on the road to Russia. Ireland lead the early charge in Group D and although O’neill has been served up a crippling injury list, he remains bullish heading for Aviva Stadium. He wants his players to draw strength from their famous Euros win over Italy when Robbie Brady (below) sparked utter pandemonium when it mattered most. And he is adamant the Boys in Green are more than a match for Chris Coleman’s charges who crave another sprinkling of the magic dust that served them so well nine months ago. With memories of Lille to fuel the fire, O’neill said: “We’ll have to produce a performance like that tonight and the players are ready for it. “That effort against Italy, it’s not a distant memory even though it’s in the past. Some of the players from that evening can call upon that experience and really go for it.” Naturally, keeping Real Madrid ace Gareth Bale under wraps will be key as he has scored 11 of Wales’ last 15 goals in qualifiers – four of them in this campaign. But O’neill insists that is not Mission Impossible. “We’ve had to deal with big players in the last couple of years and we’ve dealt reasonably well,” he said. “There will be moments in a match where the really good players extricate themselves into positions and cause you problems but we’ll try cut that to a minimum. “But being a brilliant player, he will cause problems.” Whatever happens tonight, O’neill claims it is way too early to read anything into the Group D table. Also, he doesn’t buy the theory that Wales are now victims of their own success considering their sluggish World Cup push to date. O’neill said: “I don’t think they are suffering but the expectation is very high now after their fantastic exploits in France. “If they went over as underdogs, that has gone by the wayside now. “Wales are a very capable team with excellent players and a world class one in Bale, so I don’t think there’s been any lull. “The games in this group are not easy but Wales suffering? I genuinely don’t see that. Wales are capable of winning football matches home and away.”