Paul Fennessy reports from Versailles

STEPHEN WARD HAS played down concerns about the pitch in Lille ahead of Ireland’s climactic Group E encounter with Italy on Wednesday evening.

Answering questions at a press conference next to teammate Wes Hoolahan, Ward pointed out that playing on rough ground was nothing new for the duo.

“We all watched the (France) game last night and saw that the pitch didn’t look great.

“Myself and Wes have played in the League of Ireland so we’re used to bad pitches.

“You’ve got to deal with what’s in front of you. It’s the same for the Italians as it is for ourselves — that makes it a level playing field, so we can’t blame the pitch really.”

And despite the team suffering a demoralising 3-0 defeat to Belgium on Saturday, Ward says Ireland remain optimistic that they can produce a better display against the Italians.

It was a tough game the other day. They’re top-quality opposition. We just didn’t do as well as we could.

“We’re disappointed, but we’ve got a lot of positivity in our squad. We’re all raring to go on Wednesday.

“It’s another tough game against a top-quality side that have started well.

“If you think over the last two and a half years since the management team came in, we’ve come on leaps and bounds

We’ve had setbacks before and we’ve probably been written off more times than we wanted, but we’ve bounced back strong and done it against top-quality opposition.

“We believe we can go and get a result — no one has more of a belief in this team than ourselves.”

In addition, Ward says that there are a number of leaders within the Irish team who will ensure that the Belgian disappointment is not dwelt upon.

That’s one of the strengths of the squad — we have some big characters, really good lads and good team spirit. Obviously, everyone was down after the (Belgium game). We spoke about it in the dressing room with the management staff ourselves. Once we had a rest day yesterday and got our heads right, this morning, all focus was on Italy, and we’ll prepare for that.”

Meanwhile, manager Martin O’Neill, Ward says, has not made any radical changes to the way the team prepares the side for games in the wake of Saturday’s setback.

“He prepares us as he does for every game. He’s always positive and always has belief in us.

The qualities of himself and the staff is that they’re always very good at picking us back up, reminding us what we’ve done over the past couple of years to get here and what we have achieved.

“The lads are full of optimism for Wednesday night and hopefully we can put on a performance.”

30-year-old Ward was just eight years old when Ireland last beat Italy in a competitive game — the famous 1-0 win where Ray Houghton scored the only goal at Giants Stadium in World Cup ’94. Looking back, Ward says he has fond memories of that tournament.

“I remember it — it’s quite a good memory in my life. 

We were having some sort of street party. It was a fantastic occasion. I think it’s a goal that’s been shown thousands and thousands of times on the TV back in Ireland.”

And finally, is he finding the demands of being away from home for a long period of time difficult?

It’s draining. You’re a long time away from family, but nowadays, you get quite used to that.

“You’re used to spending time in hotels. We’ve got a good group of lads who get together and we sit around talking about anything that’s going on in the world, chat away, play pool. You fill your time. We’ve got a great set-up where we are and the days don’t seem as long as you think.”

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