O’Neill: We need full points against Scots

Timing is everything, in football as well as life in general, so Shane Long’s injury-time equaliser last night ensured that a stalemate that would likely have been viewed with disillusionment prior to kick-off was suddenly being wielded as a lightning rod for contests to come. 

Ireland are imperilled to an uncomfortably worrying degree on the back of last night’s draw and the loss in Scotland late last year and yet the talk after ninety minutes in Ballsbridge was of the fighting variety, on social media in particular, as the fans still filtered out of the Aviva Stadium.

Martin O’Neill was making upbeat noises, too.

“We started off tentatively and looked nervous,” he said.

“Just when we were getting into the game we conceded a very poor goal that put us on the back foot. Our second-half was terrific. We dominated from first to last minute and had Poland on the back foot. We deserved at least a draw and could have won it. We are still in the contest.”

Just about. Victories need to be banked. And soon. Next up in the group is the Scots here in Dublin in June and the Republic of Ireland manager was up front in accepting that nothing less than the full haul of three points will suffice.

“It’s a very important game,” he accepted. “We will have to beat Scotland, yeah. It boils down to that. If the second-half showing is anything to go by we are certainly capable of doing it.”

Ireland certainly showed fight in the second-half. There were plenty who took succour in that afterwards and yet this was a painfully familiar script in which an Irish side bared its teeth only after backing itself timidly into a corner in the first place.

O’Neill revealed that self-belief was among the key words mentioned in the dressing-room afterwards, that the side could better and that they had not yet done themselves justice in this campaign.

That late goal is being clung to like a comfort blanket for now.

“It was important that we didn’t lose but that’s not how we were thinking,” he explained. “Our attitude was to win the game and we named an attacking line-up. At home the focus is on us and we had the opportunity to do so.

“I thought anything that might happen would come from Wes (Hoolahan) but we were either over stretching or over hitting. In midfield second-half we absolutely bossed them. James McCarthy came through more and Wes too. James McClean was probably pivotal.

“Overall, I’m pleased. I wish we’d started better but we are still very much in the competition.”

Polish manager Adam Nawalka took a philosophical view towards the concession of that Shane Long goal, as he might given his side still head the table, sitting as they are a point ahead of Germany and Scotland, and look primed to make the finals.

“We won a point in a very difficult place to play but we are hurt to concede a goal in added time,” he said.

“We have ambitious players and we fought a good battle. We had some problems before the match with players ill and injured before the game. It was a battle and we fought it until the end.”

Nawalka complimented Ireland for their never-say-die attitude, something he had seen in the runes of their previous games, and expressed himself more than happy with the eleven-point haul at this stage even if the second-half didn’t go according to plan.

“At half time we had a good scoreline in our favour,” he said, while adding again that one point in Dublin represented a good week’s work.

“The plan was to keep possession and stay tight in midfield but the opponents began to take advantage.

“We made some mistakes but overall the result was fair.