Whelan shoots from the lip

Glenn Whelan wishes he could let the Euros go. He’d prefer, too, if people moved on from the German debacle but he knows those twin disasters continue to haunt the Irish team and colour the perception of both players and manager.

Under normal circumstances, a meaningless friendly against Greece would be tantamount to a free pass for Giovanni Trapattoni & Co but the midfielder believes it will take very little for the knives to be separated from their sheaths again.

“If we lose against Greece (tomorrow) and the performance is not right, I’m sure it’ll be brought back up again,” he said of the manager’s future. “Things will be said and on that part we’ve got a couple of points to prove.