IRELAND’S GERMAN GIANTKILLING will be talked about for years to come but for John O’Shea, the golden moment was all a bit of a blur.
Supersub Shane Long raced away from the German defence in the 70th minute and fired home the goal that guarantees a Euro 2016 playoff place at minimum.
“I just have a blur of Shane Long’s goal,” Ireland’s captain on the night said.
“It was an amazing finish.”
It was O’Shea’s stoppage-time heroics that stole an unlikely point for Ireland against the world champions in Gelsenkirchen last year but with the Group D battle coming down to the wire, he couldn’t have been happier to see Long go one better.
“It’s very special,” he said as the result sank in.
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“When you start the game, at certain stages you’re hoping to keep the ball a bit better.
“In the first half we did for little stages, and caused them one or two problems, but then you think you are going to need something special because they are creeping into the game that bit more, dominating that bit more.
Obviously one or two of our lads are getting cramp and different things. Next thing, Shane comes on and gives everyone a big belief. He started to terrorise them and any time we played the ball forward, himself and Jonny Walters, they were magnificent.
There were a few raised eyebrows when Martin O’Neill named his team with Daryl Murphy as the lone striker and Long on the bench once again.
But when the Southampton man was given his chance, he didn’t need to be asked twice.
“Thankfully Shane got that goal,” O’Shea continued.
“I think it shows the attitude that the squad has shown, that the management team have built up around the squad ever since the start of the campaign with Aiden’s late goal out in Georgia.
Tonight was another big moment but you saw the reaction from a player that the manager wants — he doesn’t want players happy when they’re not picked in the team.
“The reaction Shane gave tonight was amazing.”
The win is already being talked about as Ireland’s biggest since Jason McAteer’s heroics against Holland in 2001 and while O’Shea is relieved that the next generation have created their own history, he knows that they need to follow it up in Warsaw on Sunday.
“We gave ourselves a chance when we beat Georgia and Gibraltar in the last two games to have a chance at automatic qualification. Now we’ve gone and beaten Germany, but we know a bit more pressure goes onto Poland.
“They’ve obviously done well to come back and get the draw with Scotland.
“We’ll be fully confident of going there and causing them problems but also knowing we’re going to need a very disciplined performance again because they have got some good attacking players.
It’s not just (Robert) Lewandowski. They have some other very good players alongside him.
“It’ll take a team disciplined like we were tonight to hopefully stop them again. That’s been key throughout our campaign. Not just the back four and goalkeeper, but our midfield unit and the way the attackers have defended at times.
“It’s been amazing and we’re going to have to do that again.”
'I just have a blur of Shane Long's goal. It was an amazing finish'
IRELAND’S GERMAN GIANTKILLING will be talked about for years to come but for John O’Shea, the golden moment was all a bit of a blur.
Supersub Shane Long raced away from the German defence in the 70th minute and fired home the goal that guarantees a Euro 2016 playoff place at minimum.
“I just have a blur of Shane Long’s goal,” Ireland’s captain on the night said.
“It was an amazing finish.”
It was O’Shea’s stoppage-time heroics that stole an unlikely point for Ireland against the world champions in Gelsenkirchen last year but with the Group D battle coming down to the wire, he couldn’t have been happier to see Long go one better.
“It’s very special,” he said as the result sank in.
“When you start the game, at certain stages you’re hoping to keep the ball a bit better.
“In the first half we did for little stages, and caused them one or two problems, but then you think you are going to need something special because they are creeping into the game that bit more, dominating that bit more.
There were a few raised eyebrows when Martin O’Neill named his team with Daryl Murphy as the lone striker and Long on the bench once again.
But when the Southampton man was given his chance, he didn’t need to be asked twice.
“Thankfully Shane got that goal,” O’Shea continued.
“I think it shows the attitude that the squad has shown, that the management team have built up around the squad ever since the start of the campaign with Aiden’s late goal out in Georgia.
“The reaction Shane gave tonight was amazing.”
The win is already being talked about as Ireland’s biggest since Jason McAteer’s heroics against Holland in 2001 and while O’Shea is relieved that the next generation have created their own history, he knows that they need to follow it up in Warsaw on Sunday.
“We gave ourselves a chance when we beat Georgia and Gibraltar in the last two games to have a chance at automatic qualification. Now we’ve gone and beaten Germany, but we know a bit more pressure goes onto Poland.
“They’ve obviously done well to come back and get the draw with Scotland.
“We’ll be fully confident of going there and causing them problems but also knowing we’re going to need a very disciplined performance again because they have got some good attacking players.
“It’ll take a team disciplined like we were tonight to hopefully stop them again. That’s been key throughout our campaign. Not just the back four and goalkeeper, but our midfield unit and the way the attackers have defended at times.
“It’s been amazing and we’re going to have to do that again.”
Automatic qualification still up for grabs and the other talking points from Ireland’s win over Germany
‘It doesn’t matter who is playing or not. It’s about the nation’ – Robbie hails Ireland’s supersubs
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