Doyle left stunned by Spaniards

With 2012 drawing to a close, Kevin Doyle has spoken candidly about how the Republic of Ireland players’ pre-tournament optimism was destroyed at the European Championships.

The Wolves striker said that before the tournament the players had the mindset that Ireland could emerge from a group that included Spain and Italy — who subsequently contested the final — and Croatia.

‘‘We went into it with such big, high hopes and there was such a big build-up to it, and we sort of forgot we were playing Spain, Italy and Croatia,’’ Doyle recalled. ‘‘It was more, ‘Ah we’ll be fine, we’ll nick a couple of results and we’ll definitely get through the group’. We were so positive going into it. When the time came, we came up against some really good teams, we didn’t perform as well as we can but also we played against two teams who made the final.’’