Trapattoni and O’Shea say victory would have been deserved

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni felt his side did enough to come away with a victory in last night’s friendly against Wales at Cardiff City Stadium.

Ireland enjoyed the better of the contest and created the better of what chances there were, with Shane Long failing to convert two great opportunities while Robbie Brady also went close.

Craig Bellamy’s second-half free-kick was as close as toothless Wales came, with Ben Davies failing to make the most of their best chance right on half-time.

“We deserved to win, we had three clear chances only for the goalkeeper [Boaz Myhill]. We created three or four great opportunities to score but it’s a friendly game, it’s pre-season and in this moment, I’m happy.”

The veteran Italian was pleased his side showed the right attitude with the World Cup double-header against Sweden and Austria just around the corner.

“I was worried after the holiday, maybe the team maybe has not the same mentality. This evening I saw enough good things.”

Ireland defender John O’Shea agreed with his manager’s assessment of the game.

“We take the positives, you come to a tough place like Wales, against quality players, you’ll take a clean sheet all day,” the Sunderland man said.

“When you come away from home it’s always nice when you get a clean sheet at international level but we’ll be a little disappointed, we had a couple of chances to win the game. On anther night, we might have took a nice away win but it wasn’t to be.

“We knew coming here that it was going to be the test we needed and we have to look forward now. Hopefully we’ll have a fully fit squad in a few weeks time and two massive games to look forward to.”

Wales manager Chris Coleman admitted Ireland gave his side a tough game.

He said: “We got a tough game for sure, we knew it would be, they are very well organised, it was a tough match.

“It was good for us to play our style of football (because) we won’t come against a tougher team.

“We rode our luck a couple of times. We got a really tough test so I am pleased enough with the team effort.”