Trap staying put but Ireland players heartbroken

Asked immediately after the game if he was considering resigning, a bemused Giovanni Trapattoni replied: “Why? We are not Germany, we are not England, we are Ireland.” And he insisted his team were very much in contention for qualification in Group C.

It was in stark contrast with the reaction of the players though. For 92 minutes, Ireland had brightened the nation up with their best performance since 2011 but there was an unmissable expression of disappointment on the players’ faces at the end of it all as they passed through the mixed zone.

Four points was always going to be considered a job well done from this double-header, and to come so desperately close to achieving that aim was a gut-wrenching blow.

While defiant that the road to Rio hasn’t come to an abrupt halt, much like the manager in his response about his future, deep down the players will look at the table this morning and realise it will be very difficult for them to qualify now.

Left deflated by the disastrous late concession, many of them refused to speak, dashing out a side exit away from the gathered media.

Shane Long, voted man of the match, was despondent afterwards despite a fine personal performance but insisted they are not yet out of the reckoning, even if there’s a mountain to climb.

“It’s hard to take. We have to try and pick ourselves up and get three points against the Faroes Islands. It was a big blow not to win, we needed to be beating Austria and then the Faroes and go into Sweden on the back of two wins.

“It would have given us something to hold on to going forward in the group but unfortunately that’s not the case.”

Seamus Coleman, meanwhile, was equally disappointed. The Everton defender said: “It was heartbreaking to concede so late. We wanted four points from these two games and it’s a bit hard to take for us at the moment.

“It was very disappointing to concede such a sucker goal at the end. We came so close to what we wanted from these two games.”