Colin Doyle: You have to recover from setbacks
The Corkman waited over a decade to earn his second cap against Turkey in March but this third will sadly be remembered for his howler in allowing Nabil Fekir’s tame shot loop into the top corner.
That said, the 32-year-old explained that some encouraging words from assistant boss after the 2-0 defeat helped ease the pain.
Doyle, despite his blunder, is in line to keep his place for Saturday’s friendly against USA which concludes the three-game end-of-season series.
Errors are part and parcel of the game and it’s about how you recover from them,” he said afterwards at the Stade de France.
“I don’t know what happened for that goal. I got two hands on it but didn’t know where it was, to honest.
“I thought I pushed it wide but when I looked up around me and seen it come down under the bar. I tried to get it up but it was too late.
“Luckily enough, I recovered okay. You just have to try and forget it. Look, Roy said to me after the game, ‘Well done because it’s how you recover from mistakes.’
“He said I did well other than that. Other than the obvious mistake, I was happy with my performance.
“However, nobody will look at the saves I meant, concentrating instead on the error.
“That’s part of being a goalkeeper. Look at the Liverpool keeper Loris Karius on Saturday, he made a couple of errors to lose the Champions League and I felt sorry for him.
Personally, I’m big and old enough to get over these things and will look forward to the USA game.
Doyle’s activity levels were heightened by Ireland’s inability to retain possession, thereby handing the initiative to the swashbuckling French.
Acknowledging that the opposition were understrength due to squad rotation ahead of the World Cup, the stopper stressed that his team must up their game to have a realistic prospect of resurrecting major tournament qualifications.
“You could probably say that it was France’s B team,” he said. “We saw Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba coming off the bench for them.
“They’ve a top quality squad and one of the favourites for the World Cup. The way they move the ball — one and two touch football — means you can’t get near them.
“They made it difficult for us tonight. I’m sure we’ll watch the video again over next few days and go from there.
“Still, we’ve to be better than that. That’s where we want to play, be in World Cups and European Championships. The French are one of the teams we’ve to aspire to be.
“I know it’s a relatively new squad coming together, a few young lads, but we’ll have to learn fast.
“You can have your bread and butter from playing at your club every week but international football is a different level. Look at the performance of France tonight.”
