Channel your inner Keano, that is the trick.
Sunday night’s 2-1 defeat to Poland has consigned the Republic of Ireland to another European Championship play-off, but it is unlikely to be as cushy as last time when they were paired against Estonia.
Nothing will be confirmed until the final matches are played today and Tuesday, but as it stands Martin O’Neill’s men are unseeded and could face one of Ukraine, Denmark, Croatia or Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Nothing easy there, but midfielder Jeff Hendrick is pissed off and hopeful that his anger and that of his team-mates will power us to victory in the two-legged play-off.
“The last time we got beaten in the group was Scotland away. We used that anger and frustration in the other games in the group.
“That’s what we need to do again.
“Getting beat 2-1 is not a nice feeling. We’ve got a second chance now so we’ve got to pick ourselves up now.
“We’re disappointed. Especially with how well we did on Thursday night against Germany to get the win that we needed.”
The draw is to be made on Sunday, with the first legs fixed for 12/13/14 November and the second legs 15/16/17 November 2015.
The squad will not return to their clubs before regrouping next month in Abbotstown but, despite the disappointment Hendrick believes the players can take positives from a campaign that saw us take four points off the world champions.
“We’re low, we wanted to get something out of the game. But we’ve got another chance, we’ll wait and see who we’re drawn against and do the job.
“We’ll need to be confident. We can look back on some good stuff we’ve done in this group, beating the world champions, drawing with them away.
“We’re a difficult team to play, we’ve got to remember that and bring that into the play-off.
“We’ve lost two games in the group, we’ve got to take positives, got to look back at what we’ve done. I don’t think we should fear anyone in the play-offs.”
