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Ireland's Alan Judge rues a missed chance during the International Friendly at the Aviva Stadium. PA Wire/Press Association Images

'Roy said at half-time: This is where you show what you can do off the ball'

It was a frustrating evening for the Brentford midfielder at the Aviva Stadium tonight.

ALAN JUDGE ADMITTED it was a somewhat frustrating evening, but insisted he “really enjoyed” his senior international debut against Switzerland tonight.

Speaking to Setanta, the Brentford midfielder described the encounter as “tough” and revealed that assistant boss Roy Keane had some words of advice at half-time.

“They were a very good team. Roy said at half-time: ‘This is where you show what you can do off the ball.’”

Asked whether he felt under extra pressure given that Judge was thought to be one of the players that needed to impress in order to earn a place on the plane to France, he responded: ”Not really. Tonight was really about just enjoying my first cap.”

Judge added that he was hopeful of getting more game time in the match against Slovakia in the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday.

Hopefully, we’ll have more of the ball and I’ll show what I can do,” he said.

Despite putting in a decent shift, Judge struggled to influence the game away from his favoured central position behind the striker.

Manager Martin O’Neill said afterwards that Judge “did fine,” explaining that his team needed to show “more confidence” on the ball.

While Judge looked isolated on the wing at times, O’Neill added that the 27-year-old Dubliner’s failure to have a significant impact going forward “wasn’t Alan’s fault”.

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Paul Fennessy
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