The summer is over, the questions are back.
Martin O’Neill’s reprieve from scrutiny lasted about 13 days. Ireland got to parade around France with the big boys with no pressure on their shoulders and they had earned the right to be there through some excellent results, magical moments and fine pieces of management.
But one game into the new campaign and it’s all tits up.
A 2-2 draw in Serbia looks good from the outside but it was a tough, old slog. The Irish had very little of the ball, they showed even littler invention and the RTÉ studio took fire at the long, direct tactics once more and the apparent restrictions placed on the players to go and just play.
Martin O’Neill saw it differently.
He saw the pitch cut up, the rain teem down and he saw Serbian opposition on their own patch not about to make it easy for the Irish.
And he spoke with passion and fire as he defended his team and their night’s work.
“You can’t expect us to control the game for 90 minutes in a match away from home against Serbia, he said. “That’s lunacy.”
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