Had their pants taken down, arses wiped and given a good spanking by Los Españoles. Their fans were absolutely top class, never stopped singing and clapping all game....well done to them all WW and IA must feel proud of the Irish supporters efforts in Poleland I wonder if the Inglish fans will do so well? AllHell
I thought the Irish team was very poor and out of their depth. Their fans were first rate, an absolute testament to loyalty, decency, pride and class.
Don't want to say too much about the Irish team as England are up on stage tonight, and our record against Sweden is wretched, but they do seem to have been caught in a bad moment for this tournament. As for the fans though, must make them proud, which does'nt often happen to us.
Agree with all of this In the last 10 years (since Saipan), we've only had one competitive victory over a higher ranked nation, and even that (Paris 2009) ended in 'glorious defeat' The bright light for me was that the local Irish pub was showing RTE rather than ITV. What's worse than seeing your team get humiliated is following it up with Adrian Chiles, Gareth Southgate and - worst of all - Roy Keane analysing it. Apparently he was in full flow about how it doesn't matter if they sing the most or have the most fun. What did he expect to happen? Would he be happier if 40,000 Irish people in Gdansk committed ritual suicide as Fabregas' goal went in? Should we have cried ourselves to sleep last night? Should I be ashamed of myself that I was proud of what I've heard so far about those who travelled to Poland? Please tell me Roy... Say what you like about the ability of the players who went out last night, but none of them ever walked out on their country.
Keane said something that struck me as odd, but he could but correct (although I don't think it is). He said the majority of the Ireland team will be in the Championship next season. I counted: St Ledger and Andrews and Ward (both of whom I think will now join a prem side).
And Mr Keane will be dreaming about having the chance to manage in the Championship Doyle, Ward, and most of the subs. I'm not sure what Dunne and O'Shea's contract situations are like. I don't think it's unreasonable to rate USA (Robbie Keane) as Championship level
But Keane came back in January and proved himself again. Trap's tactics just didn't allow him to show what he still has (although AM tactics aren't too much different). I forgot Doyle, but he'll go to a prem club or a high spending Champonship club. I think Trapatonni was correct when he said that Ireland played with fear (something you wouldn't normally attribute to the Irish team).
Sorry to resurrect this thread, first chance I've had to reply. Roy Keane is indeed an utter arsehole, effectively criticising Irish fans for enjoying themselves and the Irish players for applauding them. Yes the past two performances were nothing to be proud of in reality, but that doesn't mean the players or the fans shouldn't be allowed to appreciate the fact they're in the competition. I'm sure the Faeroe Islands, Latvia, or indeed Northern Ireland () would be happy just to be in the competition and would applaud their fans for travelling hundreds of miles and paying potentially thousands of pounds to see them. My only qualm really is that the only goal we've scored so far (and quite possibly the only one we will score) I didn't even celebrate, hearing some tosser in the crowd blowing a whistle and so I thought it wasn't given