Given makes strong case for outstanding defence

AS the Irish players emerged from their dressing room in the Stade de France on Saturday night, the recurring theme was one of satisfaction with a good night’s work, tinged with just a hint of regret that they weren’t taking all three points with them from Paris.

Goalkeeper Shay Given had been called upon to do his bit to ensure that one precious away point was the very least Ireland deserved to get out of the game, saving once spectacularly from Pires and again coming to the rescue when Henry got through on goal.

“I knew coming to the stadium I’d have a few saves to make and I was happy to be in the right place when called upon,” he said. “You’re always conscious of Henry, he’s such a world class player. I felt Andy O’Brien and Kenny Cunningham did superbly. They never really gave him much of a sniff. The one time when he did get in one on one I just went to close the angle and was happy to get a hand to it and put it around the post. But I think that was about the only chance he had.

“Overall, the result was pleasing. It was a decent point, but we could have maybe grabbed three. The best chance was probably John O’Shea’s. I thought it was in and had it hit the target it probably would have been a goal. But if we didn’t win it wasn’t for the want of trying. We didn’t sit back. We had a real go at them. On another night we might have sneaked the three points but we’re not too disappointed with getting a draw.

“We’re in a strong position in the group but there’s a long way to go. France are capable of coming to Dublin and getting three points and Switzerland beat us in Dublin in the European Championship qualifiers as well. It’s a tough group but a very positive start.” Robbie Keane, too, was looking ahead as well as reflecting on an excellent performance just ended.

“I thought we deserved the point. The first half we kept the ball well, passed it around and frustrated them. We knew the second half was going to be different with Clinton getting taken off. And also they were going to come at us. Sometimes there’s a tendency to drop a little bit deep in those situations but we’d talked about it beforehand. Overall, throughout the whole team, I think we defended very well. But it’s important now that we go about it the right way against the Faroes because this point will mean nothing if we don’t get the three on Wednesday. But it was a great team performance tonight. Every one of the players worked their socks off.” What was it like playing with Andy Reid? “It was different. I like to come and get involved in the build-up whereas Clinton plays the target man, if you like. With Andy, the roles were reversed tonight. Andy is not a natural striker in that he likes to play on the left side more, so it was up to me to chase the ball down and chase lost causes sometimes. But I think we linked up quite well, the two of us. It was just a shame for him that Clinton got the injury.”

Andy Reid himself was keen to play tribute to the Green Army, amongst whom were friends of his, “too numerous too mention,” he grinned.

“I’ve never felt anything like it, the experience of going out there tonight,” he said. “It was like a home game for us The fans were absolutely magnificent. I’d just like to thank them because they got behind us so well.”

Damien Duff also felt it was a good night to be Irish in the French capital.

“We were a tough team to beat tonight. In fact, I think we were the better team. Not a lot of teams are going to come to Paris and be able to say that. So that was particularly pleasing. It would have been nice to nick a goal and we had the better chances to do it. And to be able to say that in Paris is something.”

John O’Shea, the man who came closest to nicking it, explained his positioning for Andy Reid’s free.

“I thought I’d stick around the back for one,” he said. “Because myself and Kevin were normally attacking the ball, trying to get in across the keeper. But for this one I held back and got half a chance. I thought if I took a touch I might be closed down so I hit it first time and unfortunately, it went just wide of the post.”

Finally, Man of the Match Kevin Kilbane: “We came out here to win the game and I think we tried to do that. We created chances, we were very positive. We stumbled a bit at the start of the second half when they got on top a little but we limited them to very few chances.

“With the chances we had ourselves, we might have won it but you can’t be disappointed. We got to go away with our heads held high. We played well and that’s important. We put in a good shift and now we look forward to the Faroes.”

And the man the fans call Zinedine Kilbane finished on an ominous note for all future Group 4 opponents.

“I enjoy playing in the central midfield,” he said. “But I feel maybe I should add a few goals to my overall play and that’s what I’ll be looking to do now.”