Rob Elliot knee injury puts ‘dampener’ on evening for Martin O’Neill

Kevin Doyle five days ago, Rob Elliot last night.

It has been an encouraging enough week or so for Martin O’Neill, but not one without a price and the premature exit of Elliot was the most disappointing — and not to mention cruel — moment during the course of this 2-2 draw with Slovakia.

The initial word after the Newcastle United goalkeeper disappeared down the tunnel on a stretcher spoke of a twisted knee and there were even whispers that it may be serious enough to threaten any participation in France come June.

God only knows what Newcastle fans, for whom Elliot has been the main bastion of hope against the abyss of relegation from the Premier League this season, must have thought when they saw or heard of his demise, and O’Neill didn’t have any comforting words to offer.

“He’s not great. He’s got a serious knee injury,” said O’Neill. “It’s a real disappointment and puts a dampener on the evening, particularly when he is getting his career together. He’s doing well for Newcastle and was coming in here with a lot of confidence.

“I’ve just spoken to doctor and he’s not happy. It might be too early for me to be making assumptions. I hope to see Rob. I think he’s coming back to the hotel, but I don’t think he’s great.”

That aside, there was more to take from this friendly than the previous one against Switzerland, even if the result wasn’t as positive, with the presence of Wes Hoolahan once again the catalyst for an improved ability to retain possession.

And not just to retain it, but to ask questions, too.

“Wes been a part of the side for a while, but I thought young (Eunan) O’Kane came into the game with a bit of confidence. Overall I thought he did very well. He should be pretty pleased with himself, his contribution in the games was very good. He tried to get into it.

“I thought James McClean alongside Shane Long started very, very strongly. We lost a bit of momentum (in the second half). Shane and James caused them problems. I thought we looked sharp when you have the two of them playing and Wes in behind.”

Slovakia coach Jan Kozak, for whom this was a useful trial run before summer runs against England and Wales at the European Championships, sounded fairly pleased with his side’s work though less so with the ref.

“The game was very good, very active, we saw four goals, the first half was very good. The second half was not so fast. To be honest with you, I wanted to win this game but we had the second half in our control.

“There were two penalty kicks, but there were not really two. There was only one, but penalty kicks are part of the game. Our team showed they were a good team. They kept going. Although it ended in a draw, this was a good game for us against a good side.”