Still no sign of bailout for Trap

Republic of Ireland 0 Greece 1

By no stretch of the imagination did this latest and last setback of 2012 deserve comparison with the savage mauling here by Germany or the series of crushing defeats in Poland in the summer, but it was still a disappointment that an Irish performance which was not without its merits failed to produce at least the one goal which the small attendance craved and which the side’s overall display probably deserved.

But there is still no escaping the fact that two home losses on the trot is not the way the under-fire Trapattoni would have wanted to end the year, however fantastic his assistant Marco Tardelli seems to think it has otherwise been. However, the cloud last night was not without a silver lining, especially in the inspirational display of Seamus Coleman who was a real driving force for the home side and, clearly, a player who cannot be overlooked again in the World Cup qualifying campaign.