A DISCONSOLATE RICHARD DUNNE entered the mixed zone tonight saying Ireland can still qualify for the World Cup but he didn’t sound like a man who believed the words coming out of his mouth.

“We know it’s very difficult now but we have to keep  going, we have to believe. We’ll need someone to do us a favour down the line but we know it’s very hard.

“We wanted a minimum of four points from this week but we can’t do that now so we must win all our games from here.”

When pressed as to where it when wrong for Ireland tonight, the QPR defender didn’t think it was a result of conservatism after taking the lead.

“”I don’t think [momentum] swung in their favour straight away.

“In the first half an hour we did well and had chances and we were on top then but, for whatever reason, we took our foot off the gas and let them back into it and create chances.

“With the strikers they’ve got and the creative players they have, if you give them too many chances you’re going to be in trouble.”

The loss is all the harder to take as Dunne and his team-mates really believed the game was there for them to win.

“It’s difficult to take, we started off great.

“We believed all week that we could go out and win this game, get a good start to the week, but it didn’t work out like that and it’s disappointing to lose.”

When pressed on Giovanni Trapattoni’s future, the 33-year old said everyone must accept responsibility when Ireland lose.

“I don’t know. If we lose games we’re all under pressure. We just have to make sure, Tuesday night, to put the effort in to get whatever points are available. ”

Additional reporting by Sean Farrell.

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