Seamus Coleman ‘close to tears’ at Euro 2016 qualification joy

The Irish team hotel was still buzzing yesterday morning as the heroes of the night before packed their bags and said their farewells.

“I said it to my wife coming down in the lift there, it’s still a bit surreal,” said Seamus Coleman, happily mingling with family and friends and, to his credit, sparing a few words for us scurvy hacks, to boot.

“I don’t know when it will sink in,” he went on. “When Jonny’s second goal went in, I was nearly close to tears. It was one of those moments, it was something I wanted all my life.

“Even talking about it now, I’m getting butterflies.

“It’s hard to put into words, it’s such an amazing moment. Being a fan and growing up watching Ireland, everyone knows how much the country gets behind the team, so to be a part of that build up is something else.”

The Everton man feels success in the play-off was just reward for Irish resilience over the course of a challenging qualifying campaign “It’s been great, we’ve shown tremendous spirit throughout,” he said.

“There have been times where we’ve had some dark days. When we got beaten away in Scotland, it was tough to take and then when we drew with Scotland at home, you’re thinking you don’t know which way this is going to go. After the Scotland game at home I was bit low for a while.

“But we kept believing. I thought Scotland would struggle away to Georgia because we found it tough there and, thankfully, it swung back in our favour. The lads were brilliant against Germany, but the spirit from day one has been amazing – and that’s down to the management. The boss has been brilliant with me.

“In 2012, I had no real complaints about not going to the European Championships so, please God, I’ll be in the 23 this time.”

Coleman was at pains to stress it had been a squad and not just a team effort, his own replacements in the campaign being an obvious case in point.

“Cyrus (Christie) was one of the first people I went to when we were walking around after the match and I said, ‘look, you’ve played a massive part in this’. I thought he was fantastic against Germany, as was David Meyler away to Germany, when he played right-back. Everyone has been involved.

“Jonny Walters’ two goals, what a hero he is, but all the lads have been a part of it.”

And the final whistle on Monday night? The best feeling of his career?

“Yes I think it was. I can’t think of anything better. Playing for your country is a special feeling but to qualify for a tournament is even better.”

Skipper Robbie Keane also paid tribute to the collective effort which carried the Republic of Ireland into the Euro 2016 finals. The 35-year-old, who himself sat on the bench for the final two games of the campaign, said: “Full credit to the whole squad.

“I’m very, very proud to be Irish and of the players who are here and the players who are not here also, the players who have contributed as well, the Shays [Given], the Stephen Quinns, Paul McShanes, people like that who have been here from the start.”

Keane was one of the men who suffered the heartache of World Cup play-off defeat in France in 2009 when Thierry Henry’s handball cost the Republic dear. Six years on, it was they who got the benefit of a questionable decision when Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers harshly ruled Bosnia defender Ervin Zukanovic had handled Daryl Murphy’s cross, and in Keane’s absence, Walters duly obliged from the spot to send the Republic on their way.

The LA Galaxy striker said: “Listen, we got lucky, certainly, with the penalty. In the first-half, we didn’t create too many chances, but we kept going. But what we did at times, we did very, very well. The lads up front - I thought Jonny Walters was great again, he got two goals he certainly deserved. He’s been fantastic in this whole campaign.”