Trapattoni looks for winter growth

IT was morning after the night before but, frankly, it was hard to tell the difference as a small hours flight from Slovakia had afforded precious little time for slumber before Giovanni Trapattoni was up bright and early again yesterday to review Ireland’s state of play at the end of a rollercoaster first phase of the European Championship campaign.

And, as is his custom, the apparently ageless Italian hadn’t used the few hours of darkness just to catch up on some badly needed sleep.

“Last night I had time to think about our game in Zilina and I have to repeat what I said immediately after the game — we deserved to win,” he began. “For two reasons. One, it was clear that we played better than our opponent and better than we had against Russia. The second reason is we had two or three great chances and we missed a penalty. So, today, we could have been top of the table like Russia. Don’t forget also the performance of the team, and especially the individual performances of players like Aiden McGeady, Shane Long and Keith Fahey. I thought they were the three best on the pitch.”