Hand: Domenech would not have got Ireland to play-offs

EOIN HAND claimed last night that Ireland would not be preparing for a World Cup play-off this week if Raymond Domenech and not Giovanni Trapattoni was manager of the boys in green.

“There’s much more respect for Trap as a coach and manager than, seemingly, there is with Domenech from his fellas,” said the former Irish manager. “If you reversed the roles and you had Domenech in charge here, I don’t think we’d be near the situation of the play-off.

“Trapattoni’s not phased by the big time Charlies or anything like that, he wouldn’t be. That’s one of Trapattoni’s strengths, saying ‘what I want on the pitch, I’m going to get the best out of’.

“We might differ about what he wants on the pitch and we might differ about styles but we knew that when he was appointed. We knew we might win a game 1-0 instead of winning 3-2.”