Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill admitted his side let down their supporters with a poor performance in Thursday’s goalless draw against Northern Ireland.
The Republic were second best in the high-profile friendly in Dublin and were grateful to man of the match Darren Randolph for ensuring they did not suffer defeat on home turf as he made saves to deny Gavin Whyte and Jordan Jones.
“We didn’t do enough going forward and through a lot of sloppiness ourselves we nearly gave a couple of goals away,” Martin O’Neill said. “Randolph made a couple of good saves but certainly in terms of going forward we should do better.
“I’m not too worried about them putting on a performance for me, I’m the manager and it’s my responsibility so any bad passes made they eventually are down to me, but overall it’s disappointing for our supporters.
“They’ve paid money and we should do better and be able to create more.”
It was a similar story for Northern Ireland, who like the Republic have struggled in front of goal of late. Their problem has not been creating chances but converting them – a problem they appear no closer to solving.
“I thought we should have won the game,” manager Michael O’Neill said. “We did have to do some defending, but it was mainly set-pieces and free-kicks we gave away around the box.
“In terms of possession of the ball and chances created we should have won the game.
“We have to commend Darren Randolph, he had a great night and made important saves at key moments in the game.
“Overall I’m pleased with the performance. Again the pattern is similar to games we’ve played in the Nations League, we were dominant, very dominant but we didn’t take the chances, but we created a lot.”
