Nation left to ponder what next

No points and nobody quite sure where to from here.

Strange what a difference a week or so makes.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland will beat a chastened retreat today from football’s top table, an experience soured by the margin and manner of three comprehensive and demoralising defeats in Poland.

Italy did what they needed, pretty much when they needed in Poznan last night as the Azzurri eased their way into the Euro 2012 quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over the Republic. Our pointless return from three games equals the worst group performance at a European Championships.

Irish fans may be the talk of Poznan and Gdansk, but that will subside. Talk on the terraces will turn to tactics, technique, and Trapattoni as quickly as it takes to concede a goal. Probably an early one too.

The Irish coach, rewarded before the tournament with a €2m contract extension which takes him up to the 2014 World Cup, will brook no debate on his future, and FAI chief executive John Delaney is of like mind. However, the coach admitted last night that he was ready to give youth its head in the qualifying campaign for Brazil in 2014. He said last night that veterans like Shay Given and Robbie Keane deserved the “honour” of dying — metaphorically of course — with their boots on.

Keane admitted his side had come up short of the required quality over the last eight days. Antonio Cassano headed in from a corner to give Italy the lead in the first half before Mario Balotelli sealed Italy’s place in the quarter-finals with a late strike.

There was little for a forlorn Keane to grasp onto afterwards, only the Irish support, which seems to turn up and perform on every big occasion.

“They’ve been fantastic, it’s a shame we didn’t perform as well as we can because if anyone deserves it, it’s them. We’re disappointed, but we’ve been beaten by better teams.”

Keane was replaced late in the day by his manager, the country’s leading goal-scorer a peripheral figure again. His last time in green?

“We’ll have to see,” he offered.