Martin O’Neill: 'How can you possibly get bored at the Euros?'

Long faces will clearly not be countenanced.

Martin O’Neill has poured scorn on the suggestion he will have to guard against the boredom and grumbles that were supposedly rife among Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland squad in the lead-up and during Euro 2012, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Ireland’s disastrous campaign in Poland four years ago, when finishing with the worst record in the history of the competition, led to a drip of stories about players reportedly disenchanted by rigid training schedules and an absence of down time.