Irish squad don’t deserve the vitriol

I felt for the Irish players who woke up on Wednesday morning after such a comprehensive defeat. The vitriol, the nastiness, the backlash, the keyboard warriors and the so-called experts who saw it coming.

How quickly the gutsy result in Wales was forgotten. Stephen Ward was singled out for particular ire. Ward has been a committed member of the team for a long time. He made a mistake in a high-stakes game with 55,000 people watching him. So what? Footballers make mistakes! Teams have bad days and we had a really bad day.

O’Neill has achieved much with our committed players. They are to be admired, respected and supported and thanked. They took us to the play-offs and gave us a chance. Measure this achievement with that of Italy and the Netherlands. The manager and squad did not let us down. Our reactions let us down!

Xavier McCullough, Limerick.