Nothing disgraceful about behaviour of Irish fans or team losing

I have just returned from Poland and am extremely sad for James Nolan and his family following his tragic death in Bydgoszcz.

His death casts a dark cloud on the otherwise triumphant return of our fans from Poland, but I feel compelled to comment on Roy Keane’s comments after the Spain game.

Let’s put the Spain game into perspective. We were playing the reigning World and European Champions for heaven’s sake! What was the disgrace in losing 4-0 to a team that plays with a style, pace and level of skill probably not seen in international football since the Brazil team of 1970? When Spain didn’t have the ball, they hounded Ireland into surrendering it, in short we had nowhere to go when we had the ball and we were no match for Spain when they passed us off the park, as they have done with teams better than Ireland I might add. So instead of putting the boot into the players against Spain, we should be giving proper credit to Spain for their 90 minute footballing masterclass. The performances against Croatia and Spain are not the issue here.