O’neill defends track record as pressure builds
Manager could be in trouble if Ireland lose Wales without Bale and new father Ramsey
Martin O’neill launched an impassioned defence of his achievements as Republic of Ireland manager yesterday as he looked forward to tonight’s match against Wales.
Ireland were thrashed 4-1 in Cardiff last month on the back of arguably the worst performance of O’neill’s five-year reign and the criticism has barely halted since.
Even in the aftermath of a creditable draw against Denmark on Saturday, there are those in Ireland who argue that O’neill will be in danger of dismissal if his side lose to a team deprived of their two best players, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, whose partner has given birth to twins, tonight.
O’neill does not believe that will be the case and, privately, the Football Association of Ireland is more inclined to allow him to carry on until the end of the European Championship qualification campaign. That stance could well change under public and media pressure, however. Certainly, another heavy defeat would be hugely damaging, even if it is only a year since O’neill was lauded for a win in Wales that secured Ireland second place in their World Cup qualification group and a play-off place.
Ireland, though, lost to Denmark in the play-offs and expectation levels in the Republic have never matched the quality of players at O’neill’s disposal. Quite who could do better seems to be a moot point.
Nevertheless, Wales are far weaker on paper than they were in Cardiff. “Gareth Bale is a worldclass player and Ramsey is a topquality player himself,” said O’neill. “I’m sure they will be blows for Wales and, maybe, as a consequence, it should be OK for us in that sense.
“But we’ve got players who would be very normal starters for us that have been out for some considerable time.
“We’ll try to do better. They outplayed us in the game in Cardiff. We have to get on the front foot, we have to be better on the ball. We were very solid against Denmark and that was important, but we have to be more creative.”
Ireland had seven Premier League players in their starting line-up against Denmark, but the rest of the squad are Championship and League One players. In turn, the loss of captain Seamus Coleman has been acutely felt. “Technically, we’re short, we know that,” said O’neill. “But we’re not short of heart.
“I’ve said before, it’s a massive step to not be playing regularly in the Championship and come in and play against Denmark the other night, a team that got knocked out on penalties at the World Cup by Croatia, who reached the final. We’re trying to build.”
Republic of Ireland