Martin O’Neill: We need to find our shooting boots

If Ireland are to have a shot at redemption, they will first need to get some shots on target.

That is the message from Martin O’Neill as he ponders how to resuscitate a Euro 2016 qualifying campaign which is now wildly and possibly terminally off course. Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Scotland means his team have picked up just two points from nine in their last three outings, two of which have been at home.

At the Aviva, a Glenn Whelan drive which flew over the bar and an early Jeff Hendrick shot from a narrow angle were the only direct efforts on goal from any Irish player on the pitch other than strikers Daryl Murphy and, after he came on as a substitute, Robbie Keane.

O’Neill didn’t raise those precise stats after the game but they were clearly in his mind when he sought to convey some sense of how he might plot a way out of the doldrums for his struggling side.

“Listen, I still have to try and do something while I’m here with the players, I can’t just let it go,” he said, sounding equal parts desperate and defiant. “Training sessions involve trying to get players into positions to score a few goals or to at least have shots at goal. Harry Arter came on for less than half an hour in the game against England and had a shot. That sort of thing is encouraging because if you have a half-decent shot, you might as well use it. Some midfield players I believe, attacking midfield players, should be thinking of not coming off that field without having at least three or four shots in a game. Without even thinking about it.

“We have to try and become more creative. We have to have midfield players trying to get goals. This is it. We don’t score a lot of goals. We don’t score them. It’s unfortunately there in black and white but we have to try and try and try to improve our chance ratio. And not just have a final 15-minute burst where you put absolutely everything in the area. You have to try and be more creative.”

The apparent contradiction here is O’Neill took off Ireland’s most creative player, Wes Hoolahan for the last 15 minutes against Scotland, sending on Robbie Keane in the hope Ireland’s all-time leading striker would find his goal touch in the nick of time.

Seeking to explain a widely criticised substitution, the manager said: “We might have had to go a bit longer in those dying moments of the game because our team was getting tired and Robbie Keane is our best goal-scorer and has been for years and years.”

But Keane wasn’t able to deliver on Saturday, in keeping, overall, with a game in which the Irish performance was a story of promise unfulfilled and, ultimately, undone.

“I thought we were very strong in the first half, really strong,” said O’Neill. “I think that Scotland didn’t come to terms with our system of play and I thought that they were bawling instructions right, left and centre and I thought we were in control. We had the one goal to show for it and I was hoping we might be able to add a second at the time but it didn’t materialise.

“What we should have done in the second half was start brightly and not concede at least in the opening quarter of the match, unless someone produces something magical, and if it does, you just hold your hands up. But the goal we conceded was poor — poor from the viewpoint of not closing players down and then the execution of the shot was going miles wide and it hits John (O’Shea) and goes in. That knocked us back for a while. I thought Scotland had their best spell after that but we came back into it again.”

But not enough to make the crucial difference.

“We’re very disappointed, obviously, because this was the chance to go in front of Scotland and give us a real, real opportunity of doing something. But we’re not out of it. Genuinely not out of the group. Because I’ve seen groups before and I’ve seen things turn and twist.

“First things first, I think we have to look at September. We have to win those games. We have to win in Gibraltar and we have to come back here a few days later and win against Georgia. If we could win those games, we would take some confidence going into Germany here. And if we can get a similar type of atmosphere as we did here on Saturday and for a good stretch of the Poland game, then who knows?

“I think that people who have watched football before, particularly qualifying groups, know that some things can change around. Scotland still have to play Poland and Germany and we are only two points behind them.”

Could he perhaps see the Scots, with their historic capacity for footballing self-destruction, slipping up in Georgia on the same day Ireland are away to Gibraltar?

“It depends on how the Georgians are now feeling. They probably think their campaign is well and truly finished and there might not be a big crowd at the game. For us, on the opening day, it was pretty well packed. I still think that we are capable of winning our matches (in September) and then make the Germany game here something pretty dramatic.”

In his search to inject more creativity and goals into the side, O’Neill suggests there is still time for fringe or new personnel to come in and make an impact before the Euro campaign ends.

“Harry Arter certainly made a decent enough impression for us to know that he’ll be around. And the more you’re around, the more comfortable you’ll feel when you’re playing. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to throw a young player into a big match like these games. We’ll see. I’m still confident enough to think we’ll be able to have one or two by the end of the campaign.”

Is there any lingering hope that one of them might go by the name of Jack Grealish?

“I really think that you’d have to ask Jack and the family themselves. There’s wee things we think that we might be able to do to help along the way, but what I’ve said to him is that he has a fairly decent chance, a better chance, of getting into our team than he would have of getting into England in the foreseeable future.”