O'Neill proud of his players

Following Shamrock Rover’s 2-0 defeat to Juventus on Thursday night, manager Michael O’Neill was understandably proud of his players. Despite facing a side packed full of International quality players and suffering the blow of conceding a goal in the opening few minutes Rovers put in a display that reflected admirably on the domestic league.

“There were some excellent performances out there”, said O’Neill, “I thought Robert Bayly had an excellent match. I thought Tommy Stewart had an excellent match as well and they can all be very proud of themselves. They’ve not played against players of that calibre before and if anything it will be a very good learning experience for us”.

But the deciding factor in the game was the quality of the opposition, a fact that O’Neill was more than willing to concede.

“We’ve probably never had to work as hard in a game, never had to work as long without the ball and the centre halves were dragged into areas that they would normally would not have to go. There were a few tired limbs out there, you could see that, but they kept going. I think, as well, the concentration on the game was far higher than what they would normally be expected to and that tires you as well, the mental side of the game tires you quite badly. Added to the physical side of the game we were running on empty there for the last few minutes.”

And of the individuals on display for the Italian side it was the Brazilian born play-maker Diego who particularly caught O’Neill’s eye.

“Diego just showed his quality every time he was on the ball. His movement, his ability to get on the ball... we played Stephen Rice in there purposely because we had to try and make things difficult for him but he’s so clever and he drags players into areas where you don’t really want them to go. Every time he was on the ball he was outstanding and when we went 4-4-2, when we were trying to force the game, it gave him even more space to play and he was even more liable to hurt us. We were delighted to see him go off but then you have to deal with Del Pierro when he comes on. That’s not something we have to face on a weekly basis, believe me.”

And there was plenty more about the Juve team that impressed the former Northern Ireland International, including the ex-Liverpool player Mohamed Sissoko.

“Yes, Sissoko, obviously we knew a little bit about him from his time in England. He sits in front of the back four, picks up a lot of ball and physically, you know, you certainly don’t see players like that in the League of Ireland.”

When asked how Rovers would approach what is sure be a difficult second leg O’Neill unveiled a novel plan. “ We’re not going to go”, he said, but beyond the laughter that followed he acknowledged that the Italian leg of this tie poses considerable difficulties for a team that also face some crucial league encounters over the coming days.

“At the end of the day we have to make sure we do ourselves justice. We’ll look at the game as a single game. We have to be realistic and realise that we’re not going to come through this tie. Obviously we’d like to at least try and score a goal in the tie and we’ll look to push things on. We have big games in between with Sporting Fingal on Sunday in the league and Bohemians after the Italian game so there’s a lot for us to consider in that. But the whole experience for the players has been something that they can take a lot from. I’ve learned a lot as a manager as well. I think the coaching staff have too.”

Finally O’Neill was keen to stress the positive aspects of the tie for a club that have made enormous strides both on and off the pitch in the past few years.

“The most important thing is that it’s been a big night here in Tallaght and as a club I think it shows the progression that has been made here, the progression that we want to continue making.”