Andrew Moran: Ireland need to learn from Wembley defeat

The temptation will be to forget this embarrassment at the home of football, to erase it from the collective memory banks and plot a course independent of this car crash, but Moran isn’t of that view.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED: Ireland's Andrew Moran and Josh Cullen applaud the fans after the loss to England. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

The buck may stop with the manager but fronting up to the sort of defeat that the Republic of Ireland suffered at Wembley on Sunday evening doesn’t end with honest admissions from Heimir Hallgrimsson, or even notes of regret from the captain Nathan Collins.

These are only the initial soundings and, if both men delivered them almost note perfect when holding their hands up over that 5-0 nightmare, then there needs to be an understanding that this is a process that comes with a long tail.