IN OUR HANDS
O’Neill: We’ll up our game for Germans
MARTIN O’NEILL last night acknowledged the Republic of Ireland need to improve when they confront Germany and Poland in their final Euro 2016 qualifiers.
After a nervy 1-0 win over Georgia in front of 27,100 fans at the Aviva Stadium, O’Neill declined to indulge in chest-thumping as his team took a firmer grip in third place in Group D.
‘We’ll have to play better for the whole of the game against Germany than we did tonight,’ said the Ireland boss. ‘They are the best team in the group, world champions, possibly the best side in Europe.’
With Scotland losing 3-2 at home to Germany, Ireland
are four points clear of Gordon Strachan’s team with two games to go, and two points behind Poland in the battle for second place. Not that O’Neill is looking ahead — he can’t afford to after a jaded Irish effort against the world’s 147th team. ‘We’d all like to get to France. It would be great. And while it’s great to win two games in September, with the games we have to come, I don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves,’ said O’Neill. ‘We’ve opened up a bit of a gap but Scotland should win their last game, against Gibraltar.’ O’Neill hailed the contribution of scorer Jon Walters and Jeff Hendrick, who set up the 69th-minute matchwinner. However, the Ireland boss must plan for the October 8 visit of Germany without Glenn Whelan and James McClean, who were booked in quick succession last night. ‘We lost a couple of players tonight through suspension, which doesn’t help. James would have been a great option for us if we were to change tactics. ‘We need the players and I’ll have to sit and sweat it out over the next month as everyone will be playing a lot of club games.’ O’Neill replaced captain Robbie Keane at halftime for tactical reasons. ‘It was a difficult decision to take off Robbie. Robbie has been terrific but he’s not getting ng any younger. I felt he lacked that bit of energy,’ said O’Neill. ill.