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It's been a long time since Ireland bounced back from competitive defeat with a victory

History is against us as we face into a must-win Euro 2016 clash with Italy.

THE PRE-GAME talk from Wes Hoolohan was pretty positive.

“We have had a few setbacks and the next few games we have gone and won, or got the result we needed, so we have a good bunch of lads here who are positive”, he told reporters.

But Ireland don’t just need a point against Italy. They need to win.

And in the context of having to bounce back and respond to a setback with three points, history is not in our favour.

It’s been quite a while since we followed up a competitive defeat with a victory.

It was October 2013, when Giovanni Trapattoni had already been sacked and Noel King took temporary charge.

His first outing was in Cologne as a weary Irish side, reeling from back-to-back defeats to Sweden and Austria, lost 3-0 to Germany.

Soccer - FIFA 2014 World Cup - Qualifying - Group C - Republic of Ireland v Kazakhstan - Aviva Stadium Brian Lawless Brian Lawless

Four days later, hosting Kazakhstan, Ireland signed off from a dismal qualifying campaign with a low-key, hollow and meaningless 3-1 victory.

Andy Reid, Anthony Stokes, Darron Gibson and David Forde all started that night in Dublin with the likes of Stephen Kelly, Joey O’Brien, Paul Green and a certain Damien Delaney part of the squad.

Twelve months earlier, Trapattoni’s side had managed to pick themselves up from the floor after shipping six goals at home to Germany.

But the subsequent 4-1 away win over the Faroe Islands still wasn’t very convincing.

So, perhaps bouncebackability isn’t our strongest point.

From a tournament perspective, we’ve never managed to follow up a defeat with a win.

In total, we’ve only racked up four victories from 19 World Cup or European Championship finals games.

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    Mute Carnac
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    Mar 10th 2019, 5:18 PM

    Up Wexford.

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    Mute John Doh
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    Mar 10th 2019, 5:29 PM

    Deplorable conditions , impossible to hurl out there today!

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    Mute Ronny Phelan
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    Mar 10th 2019, 8:32 PM

    @John Doh: you know nothing jon doh

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    Mute Paddy McGee
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    Mar 10th 2019, 8:36 PM

    @John Doh: Oh just give a rest john will you, you are the biggest eejit on the 42 right now. Week in, week out, commenting utter shutter on wexford articles. If I wanted to hear from an ass hole I’d just fart.

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    Mute Ronny Phelan
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    Mar 10th 2019, 8:38 PM

    @Paddy McGee: well said paddy

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    Mute pythagoras foley
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    Mar 10th 2019, 9:09 PM

    @Ronny Phelan: get a life Ronny

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    Mute pythagoras foley
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    Mar 10th 2019, 9:11 PM

    @Ronny Phelan: get a life Ronny. More of a clown than Ronald McDonald

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    Mute shellakybooky
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    Mar 10th 2019, 11:50 PM

    @pythagoras foley: I have to say that’s the worst come back ever!!

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    Mute Keith Madden
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    Mar 10th 2019, 8:45 PM

    That is some cover photo!

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    Mute shellakybooky
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    Mar 10th 2019, 11:52 PM

    @Keith Madden: serious picture! It’s like he has a lightsaber

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    Mute Finnster
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    Mar 10th 2019, 6:17 PM

    Great stuff from Wexford . They are surely targeting the league for some silverware

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    Mute Frank Scanlon
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    Mar 10th 2019, 6:34 PM

    @Finnster: Id say they are focused on Championship like everyone else

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    Mute pythagoras foley
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    Mar 10th 2019, 9:08 PM

    @jon doh flip the haters they clearly don’t have a brain cell between them, phools.

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