O’Shea laments ‘offside’ winner

JOHN O’SHEA was feeling a familiar sense of injustice after Ireland crashed to another defeat thanks to controversial goal.

The stakes may not have been as high at the Aviva Stadium last night as they were in Paris, but the Manchester United defender was adamant Angel Di Maria’s was offside when he received the ball for the first-half winner.

But the Waterford man was pleased with how Ireland responded in the second half.

“I think their goal was offside in the end but we should have been able to deal with it before that. We think it was offside, not just from the kick but Higuain touched it first before Di Maria stuck it away.

“We are a little bit disappointed with that but in the second half we were much better. We had a lot more possession and we attacked with a lot more purpose.

“I though the lads who came on, Keogh and Treacy, in particular, had a very positive effect. It could also have been written in the stars for Robbie, he was unlucky in the end not to get a goal on his 100th cap. Maybe we deserved an equaliser towards the end of the game, but Argentina dominated possession in the first half.”

One of those who impressed O’Shea, Andy Keogh, gave a lively display off the bench and he said the side were keen to get a result for their recuperating manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

“Yeah, of course,” he said.

“He’s stood by us through his whole time here. We all wish him a speedy recovery and even if he is not there everything is still drilled into us and we still know what to do.

“As you’ve all seen we were up against a very tough team, the players, you know, we stood up well. But obviously their possession showed in the end.

“That is typical Ireland, never give up. If that last chance had dropped to Keano to tap in rather than having to spin round, but unfortunately it didn’t happen today. But we’re saving the goals for the qualifying games.

“I was disappointed not to score right at the end,” he said.

“The keeper got his face in the way and the fist in the side of my face for my troubles. I think on the balance of possession they deserved their 1-0 win, but it was a great occasion and a great team to play for the first game in the stadium.

“(Marco Tardelli) told me to go on and try and be lively. It was hard work, we had to try and break them down and in the second half I think we did reasonably well.”

Youngster Greg Cunningham was pleased to take another opportunity to impress off the bench and is keen to nail down a spot in the squad.

““It was great to get on,” the Manchester City defender said. “Obviously to play against Argentina and in the stadium it was great.

“I was keen to get on again and try and get in and we’ll see how it goes, I’m just trying to impress the manager and catch his eye. I want to push on now and get a place.”