Damien Duff and Richard Dunne remain confident ahead of game against Spain

Despite Croatia game result Republic of Ireland team are confident

DAMIEN Duff believes Ireland can take inspiration from their Paris performance against France in the infamous World Cup playoff game when they face Spain.

Speaking after the Croatia defeat on Sunday, Duff said, “This was a massive kick in the teeth but we’ve had disappointments before and bounced back.

“France a few years ago, we lost 1-0 at home and played them off the park in Paris so we will be looking for something similar.”

As for the game against Croatia, Duff added, “It was a very disappointing night. We were well back in the game and to give away two goals at crucial times in the game but there is still a lot to play for.

“Goals change games. I don’t think there was much between the teams. But goals get the three points. We’re all very disappointed but have to look forward.”

Central defender Richard Dunne agreed with Duff.

“We just have to pick ourselves up, we can’t be too downbeat. We’ve got two more chances to get ourselves through,” Dunne said.

“We still believe we can go and win the games. Sunday was disappointing and we wanted to get off to a good start but there are still two games to go so there is no point in packing up and going home.

“We come back to Poznan for the Italy game on Monday and hopefully we’ve got enough points to go through. We have to believe we can still go through.

“We came to win all three games. Sunday was a setback without a doubt and we’ve got two really tough games coming up.

“But this is what we came for; we want to play against the best teams, we want to beat them and see where we are. This is the opportunity that we’ve craved for a long, long time.”

Dunne also had a message for the fans at home and in Poland.

The Aston Villa star said, “It’s still a massive occasion for everyone back home. The people who come over here and spend all their money to come and watch us so we’ve got to make sure when we get there on Thursday for the Spain game, our heads will be right and we’ll go there to win the game.

“We understand that we’ll be written off and not given a chance. But we’ve got 180 minutes of football so why not?

“We’ve done it before. We’ve beaten bigger teams that Croatia. We can go and win the games. Especially when everything is going against us, we still believe we can win our group and we just want everyone to keep supporting us.

“We were blown away by the fans at the ground on Sunday. It was the same all day in our hotel, they’ve been amazing. That is one of the biggest disappointments. They’ve not got the result that they deserve. Hopefully we can turn it around for them.”
 
Andrews Calm

MIDFIELDER Keith Andrews insists he will not be overawed by the Spanish threat in Gdansk on Thursday night.

The midfielder, now out of contract at West Brom, knows Ireland have to take something from the game to remain alive at the Euros.

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Nster.com