Among the casualties of the carnage in Cardiff was any real chance that Daryl Horgan would be able to relish what should have been a landmark night in his football career.

“The fact that it was my competitive debut gets put to one side because we didn’t do ourselves justice,” is how the Galwegian sums up a night to forget for Ireland.

The Hibernian man entered the fray just over ten minutes from the end but, by then, with Wales 4-1 to the good, there was a little enough he could do to apply any kind of late balm to what was a deeply wounding evening for Martin O’Neill and his team.

“Sometimes football doesn’t go your way,” Horgan reflects. “They played very, very well and they have that bit of class with Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey and they utilised that for Bale’s goal. There is not many in the world who can do that and if you have that in your squad, brilliant.

“We didn’t play well enough and they put us to the sword.”

“We were missing quite a few and that doesn’t help. They’ve a new manager, there was a feel-good factor and real buzz around Ryan Giggs’ first home game and they played really well. It’s not good to concede at any time but the early goal gives them a leg up, it gets the crowd going and allows their young players to play full of confidence but there was still time to get into them.”

While Giggy’s fledglings deservedly earned plenty of plaudits in Cardiff, Horgan insists that, contrary to widespread pessimism, Ireland is not lacking in its own talented footballers on the way up.

“OK, Ethan Ampadu coming through looks like an unbelievable player for them but we have some good young players definitely,” he maintains.

“Everything about the future being bleak? I don’t think so. Our U21s are doing well at the minute. Look at how the U17s did: the team that won it beat Ireland in a dodgy penalty shootout. Our boys played very, very well and looked very strong.

“They’ve a lot of good players with a lot of quality, so it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve a lot of good players in the 21s doing well. Ronan Curtis (who has just been called into the senior squad) is banging in the goals. It was a bad result on Thursday but we shouldn’t say there’s no quality coming through because there is.”

Advancing his own international ambitions was a key reason why former Dundalk and Cork City man Horgan was anxious to take the opportunity to join Hibs after being deemed surplus to requirements at Preston.

“Yeah it was a tough year last year,” he admits.

“I never got going really so to get the move, get it sorted, and hit the ground running has been brilliant.

“I’m absolutely delighted. I thought it was going to happen in June and July but it was stopped both times but I was really interested from the get-go. I got word on deadline day that Preston were going to let me go so I said to my agent to get straight onto Hibs.”

“The whole thing is I felt there were going to be opportunities there for me. If I played well and was doing well, there would be a chance for me to play. That had never really materialised for me last season. That was a massive pull. I had spoken to the international manager as well over the summer. I said ‘I might have to move to the SPL or, the way it was looking, maybe League One’.

“But he said the priority for me was to play. He said he was going to Preston for games and I was not even in the squad so he was coming back and had no idea how or what I was doing because he hadn’t seen me. At least if I was playing games, wherever it is, he would know. He said that was the priority for me.

“And for my own head, not my self-worth, I just needed that feeling of being involved and part of a team or squad. I didn’t really feel part of it last year, coming into training, doing everything I possibly could and you don’t feel you’re making an impact on the season. It’s tough.”

Although Hibs slumped to defeat to Livingston before the international break, the 26-year-old has made a promising start at Easter Road, scoring twice in his first four appearances under Neil Lennon.

“He plays an open, expansive, attacking brand of football,” says Horgan of his club manager. “We’re on the front foot all the time where we’re pressing or on the ball. It’s extremely positive.

“We take people on, get crosses and shots in. He’s instilled a good work ethic and we have that bit of quality.”

Which contrasts rather depressingly with what we saw of Horgan’s international team the other night. But the winger insists Ireland can turn things around in the short-term.

“It was a bad start to the Nations League for us but we still have three more games to play and two friendlies in that time,” he says. “The minimum we can aim for is second, that’s the priority. Hopefully we pick up the next couple of results and who knows what might happen. Wales and Denmarik are two good sides but this group is definitely not dead and buried.

“Now the opportunity is there for other players to do well on Tuesday against Poland. Every game for your country is a massive game and anyone who gets that opportunity, whether or not they’ve played on Thursday, has to stake a claim and put their name forward. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to play and do well.

“Everyone is disappointed about how the game went on Thursday, make no bones about that. No-one wants to lose any game but to lose 4-1 is very disappointing. But everyone is hell-bent on turning it around.”