Another moment of magic in Germany for proud O’Neill
The Republic of Ireland manager already knew a thing or two about humbling the mighty world champions having played his part in an unlikely Northern Ireland double over the old West Germany 31 years ago.
It was Norman Whiteside who provided the winner in Hamburg back in 1983, his 50th-minute effort consigning the hosts to their first home defeat in nine years, but the timing of John O’Shea’s goal last night meant this beat that for sheer drama.
Whatever about that, it was put to O’Neill whether this result matched anything he has achieved in a managerial career that spanned spells at Wycombe Wanderers, Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa before this.
“It is. It’s hard to call,” he said half an hour afterwards. “It’s the third game in. It really is a fantastic effort by the team. Someone said they were missing a few players but, with respect, so were we.
“We were missing the best right-back in Britain [in Seamus Coleman]. We had a midfielder playing as a makeshift right-back in David Meyler the last few games. This is great, it keeps the confidence going into next month.”
There was a special mention for O’Shea on what was his 100th cap.
“He even had the captain’s armband at the time and credit to Jeff Hendrick who put the ball back in. Wes [Hoolahan] had a chance before that and we never game up. We kept going — a bit like Georgia — and I never felt we were actually out of the game and that is great credit to the players if I think that.”
The bottom line was what he termed a “precious point”.
“It’s a great point for us at the home of the world champions. We had to withstand a bit of pressure and we tried to thwart them. We would like to have used the ball a wee bit better when we had it.
“We were reasonably okay at half-time. We should have closed their goal down but what is the point of losing the game if you can’t go for it? There was always the chance they would score a second goal but it was a fantastic effort from the team.”
For Germany, the result and aspects of the performance will come as another nasty shock on the back of last Saturday’s defeat in Warsaw and talk of a post-World Cup hangover will only intensify.
Manager Joachim Low denied that was a factor before contradicting himself later by referring to a “post-World Cup hole”, claiming he could see the effect of a long season and short off-season just gone in the eyes of his players.
“It is extremely annoying not to have won the game,” he said. “Ireland had one single chance and yet in the very final second managed to equalise. If there is anyone to blame it is ourselves. That must not happen in the last five minutes.
“We didn’t have the grip on the game that we did before. We lost possession far too easily and misplaced passes. We passed back to Neuer far too many times. Despite being 1-0 up we showed a lot of nervousness in the dying minutes of the game.
“We let them rise again to the situation.”
Music to the ears of O’Neill.
