Dunne: Mick has tackled fear of failure

Richard Dunne believes Mick McCarthy’s demand for his players to put the emphasis on applying rather than absorbing pressure — in contrast to what he saw as a fear of failure beginning to inhibit the team under the previous management regime — means Ireland are now in a better position to make home advantage tell against Switzerland tonight.

“I think one of the things of the Martin O’Neill era was the home games — we stopped going to win and we started playing where we didn’t want to lose,” says the legendary defender.