NATHAN COLLINS SAYS Ireland have set their standard for performance for the rest of this Euro 2024 qualifying campaign – but admitted Mike Maignan’s sensational late save left him feeling “heartbroken”.
While Stephen Kenny’s side fell to an opening night 1-0 defeat to France, the 21-year-old defender is adamant the manner of the display is the minimum requirement going forward.
And Collins insists they are capable of maintaining the levels required to qualify.
“One hundred per cent, but we have to do it ourselves. I think you have seen it so many times against the big teams, we put on performances and people are a bit shocked how good we do and how we hurt teams so much.
“But again, it is not just the big teams we need to perform against. We have to have that standard against the so-called smaller nations, who still have quality. We need to keep those standards.
“I think in this group, every game is a must-win because it is so hard. This was a must-win but we didn’t get the win but now we have to dust ourselves down, build from that and go again.
“The standard and quality of the game,” Collins continued. “One sloppy mistake and they capitalise on it. But it comes from the back and comes from midfield, comes from the strikers. Not just one player’s job, it is all the players.
“I think this gives us a lot of belief that we can play at that level, cause problems at that level, go and nick games and give a performance we can be proud of.
“The crowd were unbelievable, it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life. It drove me so much forward.
“I thought we did deserve it. I think we caused them so many problems. They were struggling to deal with us a lot of the time.
“But that was the quality of their game. They kept a clean sheet and we didn’t.
Collins came excruciatingly close to a superb 90th-minute equaliser only for his powerful header to be tipped away from the top corner by France goalkeeper Maignan.
“So frustrating. I thought I’d done everything. I got up as high as I could. I got power behind it. But then it is an unbelievable save and that is the difference at the top level.
“That’s the difference, the quality, I’m heartbroken. I watched it back and it is even worse than I thought, it is unbelievable. There is not much more that I can say.”
Jayson Molumby put in another rousing performance in midfield and felt Ireland were good value for at least a point against the beaten World Cup finalists.
“Yeah, absolutely. Credit to the staff and the lads because we worked tirelessly all week, I think we all knew what we were doing out there and maybe the fans and people looking on realise that.
“It was an unfortunate goal to concede on our behalf but on another night I think we get something from the game.
“I think the game plan worked to a tee, we limited them to very few chances and in the end it was a mistake (that cost us).
“We’re just gutted,” the Waterford native continued.
“I think we all believe in each other now and we’ve got some top players, we’ve got some really exciting young players coming through as well and I think showed tonight at times that our technical ability is up there as well.
“We were out there against the best in the world and put up a fight, we were competing. So yeah, I feel like we can be proud of ourselves tonight.”
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