“There’s been up and downs, as you can imagine in any competition, any European qualification”.
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In the event, a 2-1 defeat in Warsaw consigned Ireland to third place and the play-offs.
Keane entered club management with Sunderland in August 2006 and fashioned a remarkable turnaround to take them to the Premier League. He has been fantastic, absolutely fantastic. There were a number of very decent performance but Walters was exceptional.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, to qualify and play the way we did, it was unbelievable”.
“That moment when the referee blows the whistle and you are in France, it is just very, very special, very special indeed”. I thought then that the points could be crucial.
“It certainly will be the last tournament that they are involved in, so I am just pleased for everyone”. He was a big plus for us having him come back in tonight and the two goals were a bonus for him. The togetherness of this group, the team spirit that we have on and off the field is incredible.
“In my opinion a player needs more training before playing 40 minutes but I understand because it was an important game which meant he country qualified for Euro 2016″.
There was a whole team of heroes out there. “We’ve done it the hard way, but we got there”.
Keane was quick to poke fun at himself when asked how Ireland could improve on their previous dismal showing at a European Championship finals tournament.
“You have always got to believe, it was never going to be a straight line to qualification”, he stressed after his brace sunk Bosnia-Herzegovina last night.
Walters, who missed Friday’s 1-1 first leg draw in Zenica because of suspension, struck a goal in each half to complete a 3-1 aggregate victory and take them into next year’s tournament in France. You grow up dreaming of these type of moments. “We did everything we needed to and now we’re off to France”. My set pieces were dire before the one which set up Jon Walters’ second, but he stuck with it and he put that one away.
It has worked out a treat. Obviously if we didn’t get the result last night there would have been a slightly different way of looking at it but it has been everything I had hoped it would be.
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“So when we have it we have to try make a few use of it. Our idea and the thing that I would love us to be able to try and do is have the confidence and courage to keep hold of the ball and play it”.
