In his post-match press conference, O’Neill expressed a degree of worry about the situation and Walters could now miss the second Group E game – against Belgium in Bordeaux on Saturday. So that is the first game down, we have picked off one point, possibly we could have had three.
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“But he’s here now and I think we’ve just got to tune in and catch the best of him, because he’s still a top-class player”.
“We should have been at least in front by half-time”. In the first half in particular, our own attacking play was not good.
“Belgium have got a real set of individual players, it’s whether they go and gel as a side or not”, added O’Neill.
Ireland looked to be on their way to a first win at the European Championship finals since they beat England in Stuttgart in 1988, courtesy of Wes Hoolahan’s fine 48th-minute strike.
Captain John O’Shea, whose late equaliser in Germany garnered a precious point towards the qualification fund, came agonisingly close to adding to his modest tally of three senior global goals when he only just failed to connect with central defensive partner Clark’s flick-on at the back post. They are really good in the physical game.
LINK-UP PLAY The 29-year-old’s best moment overall came when he produced a neat touch around the half-hour mark to tee up Jeff Hendrick, who drilled a shot against the crossbar and was the Republic’s most dangerous-looking player over the course of the contest.
“Sometimes you just don’t get it to work right away”, he said.
For 50 minutes, the Republic pinned Sweden back to the extent that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the man earmarked as the greatest threat to their hopes of an opening night victory, was largely becalmed.
To their credit, Sweden responded and eventually forced their way back into the game when the unfortunate Ciaran Clark headed Ibrahimovic’s 71st-minute cross into his own net, but Coleman believes he and his team-mates have put down a marker ahead of their forthcoming fixtures. We were quite dominant for a lot of the game and had a lot chances, but we didn’t get three points.
The defender started in the centre of defence for Ireland on Monday as they opened their Euro 2016 campaign against Sweden.
“These things happen”, said forward Jon Walters, who left the action early due to an Achilles injury. I thought we played really, really well in the game.
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Singing ABBA songs with Sweden fans, turning one Frenchman on a balcony into a legend, producing the best flags of the tournament… while the followers of some teams have seriously let themselves down, the Irish have been awesome.
