John O’Shea hopes wins in September can keep Ireland in frame

John O’Shea admitted that Ireland simply weren’t good enough to get the result they needed on Saturday and the veteran defender says they have little option now but to press on, make sure of the six points they can take in September then see how they stand ahead of the games against Germany and Poland in October.

The 34-year-old acknowledged that the Irish defence was caught napping for Scotland’s equaliser just after the break but he was critical too of the home side’s attempt to engineer a winner with too many of the team’s crosses hit in the mere hope of finding a target.

“For the first half and most of the second we totally controlled it,” said the Sunderland man, who previously played for Manchester United. “And that’s the unfortunate thing.

“We’ve got the goal but then the intensity that we needed, that we’d had throughout the game, was just lacking for that first 30 seconds or a minute, whatever it was [at the start of the second half].

“That goal is so frustrating because, fair enough, if they stick it in the top corner then you hold your hands up but the way it went in . . . It hits off James’s toe and then my back or shoulder or whatever.

“We’ve let them back into it, we’ve made things that bit harder for ourselves now.”

Increasingly struggled

Ireland still had time to rescue the situation at that stage but increasingly struggled to find their range around the Scotland area.

Almost everything that did land in the danger zone was simply cleared away but that, remarks O’Shea, says more about the quality of the attacking than the defensive play.

“We got a bit raggedy for five or 10 minutes but then James McClean came on and started to get in some fantastic crosses. We had a chance to get back into the lead straight away. And their ’keeper has made a very good save.

“I don’t know how many crosses we put in with set pieces but maybe if we’d taken a bit more time in terms of, we were putting good balls in but at times we were just putting it in instead of getting our heads up and looking at where we were actually putting it.

“Maybe sometimes there was a pass on instead but that’s something we can improve on.”

It may take quite some improvement on Ireland’s part if qualification is to be salvaged. Six points would be the expected return from September’s games against Georgia and Gibraltar after which Ireland will most likely be ahead of Scotland in the table.

Positive result

Still, Martin O’Neill’s side would surely need at least one positive result from their last two games, against Germany at home and Poland away, both of which look more daunting than Saturday’s did.

In the circumstances, he admits, a favour from somebody else along the way may prove to be an essential part of the mix.

“Look it,” he says, sounding more professional than genuinely optimistic, “more than likely we’re going to need something like that now but ultimately if we get the six points from our next two games.

Adding: “We’ll see what happens with the other teams and we’ll know then what we have to do against Poland and Germany.”