O’Shea’s full of pride as he dwells on the positives
SHANE DUFFY’s fairytale turned into a nightmare the moment he decided to take Antoine Griezmann down just outside the Republic of Ireland penalty box in the 66th minute.
It had to be done. This has been a tournament where self-sacrifice has been championed by assistant manager Roy Keane and the Derry man clearly took the message on board.
Seconds later he was trudging off the pitch after been shown a straight red card in only his second competitive start. Before he knew it he was back in the away team dressing room with just a UEFA security man for company.
This wasn’t the glorious ending his first half-performance had deserved. He switched on the television and watched silently. ‘I was praying,’ he admitted.
That’s when you know there is no hope. God? Give over. He may have been able to turn water into wine but even he would have struggled to get anywhere near Paul Pogba yesterday afternoon.
Duffy’s prayers went unanswered and now the 24-year-old finds himself in purgatory until the next opportunity arrives to redeem himself. And it will come soon. Duffy is part of Ireand’s future.
The World Cup qualifiers begin in September but for the time being his thoughts are only being occupied by one thing and one thing only. ‘If I had left it (the tackle) any later it would have been a penalty and maybe another goal so it was a decision I took,’ Duffy explained.
‘I don’t know if it was the right one or the wrong one. I have let the team down a bit, left us with 10 men for a long period. But I gave my all out there, it might not be good enough but it’s the best I can do.’
Robbie Brady insisted there was ‘no blame to be shed on one person’, yet Duffy couldn’t help but rue his decision-making in the seconds before Griezmann broke clear. ‘The disappointing thing is that it shouldn’t have got to that point, two-v-one, we could have dealt with it a lot better.
‘We were so comfortable and so confident but in the second half it goes completely wrong, with me getting sent off. We can keep our heads up high, I think, with the effort that the whole squad made in the tournament.
‘I will probably reflect on it a bit more later on but now, I don’t know. In the first half I was comfortable, we dealt with everything they threw at us. At the start of the second half we just couldn’t get out — they have good players, and they turned it up a gear, we should have defended the goals better so that’s disappointing. We gave everything we can and we left nothing out there.’
Several Ireland players crumpled in a heap at the final whistle, exhausted by the effort they put in over the course of four gruelling games and shattered by the disappointment of seeing a 1-0 lead overturned and a place in the quarter-finals swiped from within their grasp.
John O’Shea did his best to raise spirits among team-mates strewn on the ground and drenched in sweat under the blistering Lyon sun.
‘I think it was [Seamus] Coleman on the floor really disappointed and Sheasy was like “come on, stand up, be proud”,’ his former Manchester United team-mate Patrice Evra revealed.
‘I said to him good luck, you should really be proud of all your teammates and if you were here there were a lot of people saying we were going to win easily, but no it was a tough game. That’s why I think all the Irish fans should be proud of their team.’
The travelling support remained in their section behind the goal where Brady slotted home the penalty in the second minute, and O’Shea expressed just how special a moment it was for everyone in the squad to show their appreciation.
The 114-times capped defender is unlikely to remain a central figure at the back following Duffy’s emergence but the 35-year-old refused to be drawn on his future. ‘Ah look, I’m not going to get involved in that now lads,’ he said, instead stressing that Euro 2016 has been a success for Ireland.
‘I’m just really going to enjoy the night with a special group of players, special backroom staff an coaching staff and reflect on a few weeks that have been very special and very different, especially when you have that moment there with the fans. That is something I will cherish for a long time.
‘Many of the positives outweigh the negatives. That’s the big thing you take and we’ll be taking. The World Cup campaign comes around so quickly. You have to say yourself the feeling in this tournament compared to four years ago is very different.’
‘That moment with the fans is something I will cherish’