Martin ONeill: Playing away from home is always difficult

Martin O’Neill was pleased with his side’s defensive effort in achieving a 0-0 draw away to Denmark in Saturday night’s World Cup play-off in Copenhagen.

Martin ONeill: Playing away from home is always difficult

by Ger McCarthy

Martin O’Neill was pleased with his side’s defensive effort in achieving a 0-0 draw away to Denmark in Saturday night’s World Cup play-off in Copenhagen.

“It was a tough evening, a really tough evening,” O’Neill admitted to RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue.

“The pitch was tough too in all honesty but overall, we were in there battling and it is all to play for on Tuesday night. It is hard, we are playing away from home and that’s always pretty difficult. The onus was on the home side, obviously, to try and break the team down.

“We’ve set out a game plan, had one or two chances ourselves particularly with Cyrus doing well down the right hand side. We didn’t get the goal but I’m sure they (Denmark) might think that 0-0 isn’t a bad result at all. We have to win a game now, have to win at the Aviva.

“We have had this type of situation before in having to win in Wales, having to go and win the game before that to make the Welsh game important. We have to do it again now.

“The save Darren Randolph touched over the bar near the end was very good but then overall, the back four in front of him played very, very strongly. We limited them to a number of chances expect the one Sisto stuck wide which was a good opportunity which resulted from a mistake by us in the first place.

“I’m pleased with the effort the lads put into the match, a big, big effort away from home. Which just go to the Aviva on Tuesday but will have to see how the players are first. We have a little time to think about it and yeah, we have to win a game.”

Bristol City’s Callum O’Dowda was a surprise inclusion in Martin O’Neill’s starting eleven but produced a disciplined display that belied the 22-year-old’s lack of international experience.

“In a way, we wanted to come here and get three points,” O’Dowda commented to RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue shortly after full time.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game but there is no reason to be too upset, we are both in a similar position, in terms of ability as well but it is nice to get them back to Dublin at 0-0.

"When you have got balls coming in the box, I think we have the type of players that can deal with those and then we kind of hit them on the counter as well. I’m just delighted that we can take it to Dublin now.

“We can say that we know a lot about them (Denmark) not, but we know what we have to do in Dublin now on Tuesday.”

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