Soccer pundit Eamon Dunphy told RTE Radio that when he used the term “shameful’ on the post match analysis Saturday evening after the 2-2 tie with Italy, he was referring the continued exclusion of Andy Reid from the squad, as opposed to the actual Irish performance.

"I did use it [the word "shameful"]; it was not the right word to use for the performance. It would be appropriate, I think, to what's happening to Andy Reid."

That said, he did bemoan the fact that whenever Ireland have possession,  that they never really seemed to actually want to play football.

Republic of Ireland Stephen Hunt called Dunphy a “skinny little rat"on Monday and when asked about the comment, Dunphy joked, ‘'Stephen Hunt's not exactly Mr Universe himself!"

Ireland have qualified for the playoffs and play their final qualifying match against Montenegro Wednesday evening.