Martin O’Neill: We’re not out by a long shot

Apparently irked by a comment made by Gordon Strachan, Martin O’Neill is at pains to remind the Scotland manager — and everyone else — that Ireland deserve their additional shot at qualification for France 2016 through the play-offs.

Arguing that the euphoria of last Thursday’s victory over Germany should not give way to dismay following Sunday night’s 2-1 defeat in Warsaw, O’Neill said: “I said to the players in the dressing room after the game that I would have taken this (play-off) situation throughout the group. When we saw the group in the first place, I may well have taken it before we even kicked a ball in Georgia in the very first game. What I did say that has come to fruition is that teams would take points off each other.

“I heard Gordon (Strachan) saying that they’re out, and us and Poland hadn’t beaten them. But we’ve taken four points off the world champions. Scotland didn’t do that. So I think we should put it into perspective. It was a difficult game on Sunday. I thought we could do it. I thought this was an opportunity. It’s gone. I’m disappointed but, regardless of who we play, we’re still here and we’re still fighting for it.”