PAUL GODDARD,
Sir, - I understand the Garda would not allow the homecoming festivities for the Irish football team to take place in the city centre because of the numbers of people who may have attended.
I sincerely hope the people who decide where the 2008 European Championship is to be held have not heard about this. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL GODDARD,
Fitzwilliam Square,
Dublin 2.
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Sir, - Are we seriously expected to accept that Mick McCarthy left the critical matter of penalty-taking last Sunday to those who were brave or foolhardy enough to put their hands up after 120 minutes of football, and that there was no pre-selection for the task?
Surely preparing for a possible penalty shoot-out should have been as vital a part of the preparations for the knock-out stages as any other exercise on the training ground. It wasn't as if it was unlikely (given the tight margin in so many of the games) and we'd been there before in Italia '90.
The penalty shoot-out is no lottery, but a supreme test of skill for the best dead-ball players and goalkeepers. The efforts of Kevin Kilbane and David Connolly appeared to have all the guile of a peno-taker in a Sunday morning kick-around in the park. Are these players regular penalty takers with their clubs?
What a complete shame if all the skill, sweat and heroics of the past two years in, first qualifying and then getting to the last 16, was frittered away by a lack of basic professionalism in our preparations for Sunday's game. Whisper it, but I think Roy Keane had a point.
Furthermore, isn't it time we had done with this "Irish glorious in defeat" mullarkey. This team have shown they are nearly good enough to take on the best. Let's do it,and win something for a change. - Yours, etc.,
STEPHEN O'BYRNES,
Pembroke Place,
Dublin 2.
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Sir, - Ian Harte may have had a poor World Cup, but he must have been the happiest man in the Phoenix Park on Tuesday that, as a consequence, he didn't have to endure the humiliation of a Joe Duffy interview.
My big fear is that in future Irish players may choose to put the ball wide rather than face that ordeal. - Yours, etc.,
SHANE ROBINSON,
Harbour Court,
Courtmacsherry,
Co Cork.
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Sir, - For a few weeks, our spirits were lifted by a glorious sense of joy and euphoria, thanks to Mick McCarthy and his wonderful lads. The country seemed to be festooned in green, white and orange buntings and flags and the excitement and sheer happiness of the Irish people were palpable everywhere. I saw two dogs in O'Connell Street last week decked out in the Irish colours!
We shall always remember those now famous names in this never-to-be-forgotten World Cup - Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Gary Breen and Matt Holland. And who will ever forget the moving sight of the wonderful Niall Quinn comforting Matt Holland? Another image which lingers in the mind was the extraordinary jubiliant scenes in the Submarine bar shown nightly on Sky News.
Yes, Mick McCarthy and his brave and talented lads did this country proud, as did the loyal, warm-hearted supporters who travelled to Japan and South Korea to cheer them on. So, thanks again lads for raising our spirits and giving us something to sing and cheer about. We won't forget you! - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY REDMOND,
North Great George's Street,
Dublin 1.
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Sir, - Paddy Agnew speculates that the South Koreans may have beaten Italy because they were the better team. Much may be said in favour of this idea, but it has one fatal flaw. It was not the Koreans, but the Italians, who won with Tommasi's golden goal in the 20th minute of extra time.
Disallowing the golden goal was not like the other interesting decisions taken by the referee, Mr Byron Moreno and his merry men. Quite simply, this was a falsification of the result. - Yours, etc.,
CORMAC Ó CUILLEANÁIN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.