Sean St Ledger has insisted the Republic of Ireland’s band of 30-somethings has plenty left to offer as the focus turns away from a disastrous Euro 2012 experience and towards the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Giovanni trapattoni took eight players aged 30 or over to Poland this month and revealed after the last of three defeats, to Italy on Monday evening, that some had already confirmed they would not be staying on board beyond the summer.
Damien Duff all but admitted as much when wheeled out for the pre-match press conference on Sunday to mark his 100th cap while Richard Dunne has sounded similar suggestions both before and after the European Championships.
The decisions of others such as Shay Given, John O’Shea and Robbie Keane will be awaited with some trepidation as well and the hope must be that there will be a gradual turnover of players rather than a mass change over the course of the next two years.
"Obviously they’re thinking about things but they are still at an age when they’re still playing in the Premier League and they are at great football clubs," said St Ledger. "They’ve all got a lot to offer. Personally, I’d be gutted to see them retire but that’s their own personal choice."
Despite the deficiencies in the squad being exposed in this tournament, St Ledger doesn’t accept Ireland were embarrassed.
"I don’t think embarrassed is the word. We felt we let people down a bit. They’ve been brilliant. I hope people understand that they are three very good sides and we had gone into each game believing we could get a result. We’ve gone into the games trying our hardest so it’s not through a lack of effort. It’s through other teams being better and our own mistakes.
"You need to be at your best here. You need luck. In all three games we haven’t had much luck and the referees have been poor."
St Ledger started and finished all three games against Croatia, Spain and Italy but his tournament was typical of the collective with a collection of mistakes jostling for primacy with some last-gasp heroics.
Like some of his colleagues, he spoke about how the experience — though bitter — has given him a taste for such stages and, though he has his critics, he will become Ireland’s de facto defensive lynchpin should Dunne hand in his cards.
That such an elevated position would be held by a player playing Championship football, with Leicester City, is worth noting as it is demonstrative of a group of players, none of whom ply their trade for a Premier League team in last season’s top eight.
Trapattoni’s work in transforming the ragtag bunch he inherited from Steve Staunton should not be forgotten nor underestimated but the fact is that this Ireland team were given a cold and clinical summation of their place on the footballing map.
"Possibly. We’ve done very well to get where we are and in the last couple of years we got very close to the World Cup. We’ve got here as well, which is an achievement in itself.
"To be honest, I never expected Spain to play to that level but then I don’t think anybody did," said the defender. "
We always knew we were in a difficult group but we definitely feel we let people down.
"But sometimes you’ve got to hold your hand up and say that we’ve lost three games to three very, very good sides, all ranked within the top 10 in the [world] rankings."