O’Neill rues the ones that got away

Republic of Ireland 1 Turkey 2

For the second home game in succession, Martin O’Neill was obliged to try to accentuate the positives of a 2-1 home defeat, after Turkey came out on top in another frustrating day for Ireland at a sparsely attended Aviva Stadium.

In fact, the manager went further than he had done after the loss to Serbia in March, this time insisting he simply couldn’t fathom how his side had ended up on the wrong end of the same scoreline.