THE RTÉ PANEL were unimpressed after Ireland’s automatic qualification hopes ended following a loss to Poland this evening.
The Boys in Green were beaten 2-1 and struggled to create chances, with Eamon Dunphy particularly critical of the performance.
“They didn’t have to work to get the ball, we gave it back to them,” he said.
“They got very nervous and started looking for the corner flags with 10 minutes to go
“This was O’Neill reverting to the way we played away to Scotland and the way we played away to Germany, apart from the last 20 minutes.
“Hoolahan came on tonight and contributed one or two touches but it’s hard to get into a game in that way.”
Dunphy also claimed Martin O’Neill’s philosophy partially contributed to the disappointing outcome.
“It raises massive question marks about Martin O’Neill’s values. We should be going to the European Championships. We have the players to do it.
“International football needs more sophistication.
“We saw the rugby team today being magnificent. I saw an Irish team tonight with a number of players copping out, not taking on responsibility to get on the ball — John O’Shea repeatedly fouling Lewandowski.
“We should be doing better with the players we’ve got
“The way we played tonight is the way he likes to play and he was wrong.”
Inevitably, the omission of Wes Hoolahan from the starting lineup was a big talking point.
O’Neill suggested the Norwich star was not fit to start, but Dunphy dismissed this claim.
“He doesn’t trust Hoolahan. He said in public he should play Wes at home, implying it should be against the lesser teams.
“He didn’t play him against Germany. He brought him on and Wes helped to turn the match. Then he didn’t play him away to Scotland.
“He’s not alone in this. There are a lot of coaches who mistrust creative players — Jack Charlton was another one. They see the risk in Wes Hoolahan, but they don’t see the value.
“Even after a man-of-the-match performance, which thrilled everyone in the country, and marked him out as a real quality player, we left him out.”
John Giles and Liam Brady largely agreed with Dunphy’s sentiments, with the Arsenal legend adding: “We have to put our hands on our heart and say we didn’t deserve to finish second.”
