O’Kane offers no excuse for defeat in New Jersey

EUNAN O’KANE was involved in a car crash last Sunday before having to sit through another one for an hour in the MetLife Stadium.

O’Kane was on the bench as Ireland fell three goals behind against Mexico before getting his chance for the final 25 minutes, during which time some order was restored to the chaos.

Even so, the Leeds United midfielder didn’t flinch as he reflected on a grim night in Meadowlands.

‘We can’t make excuses, we weren’t good enough and we were there to prepare for a very important game against Austria,’ he said

‘We got a little bit better towards the end of the game but who knows if that was us getting better or them easing off a little bit. At the end the day we lost convincingly.’

Martin O’Neill dabbled with a 3-5-2 formation, and a curious selection of two wingers, Daryl Horgan and Callum O’Dowda in midfield.

The changes didn’t work but O’Kane felt the players should have applied themselves better.

‘I don’t think we can blame anything other than ourselves,’ he said. ‘We’re supposed to be international footballers and we should be able to play in any formation that’s asked of us but we weren’t good enough,’ he said.

O’Kane (above) helped douse the fire when he arrived on the scene just past the hour mark.

‘You want to play as much as you can and I haven’t but that’s no excuse, you have to look after yourself in those times. You have to take any opportunity you get.’