Ireland Bulgaria with that funny round ball 2009

[suisse]

I completely disagree with the sentiments here. Last night was an unbelievable opportunity for Ireland to kick an opponent when they were down. Pre-match, we would have taken a 1-1 draw, but Italy were poor, negative, and played with 10 men for 88 minutes. Accepting a draw when you know the opposition are not what they are made out to be is defeatest. This seems eerily similar to Brian Kerr's era, and France 0 Ireland 0 in Paris. We had a golden opportunity to knock France out the equation by winning in Paris. But we didn't, and we celebrated a draw against a side playing Antonio Mavuba in midfield. And, we paid the ultimate price - France recalled the big guns, and beat us in Dublin. We could have kicked France out of contention at SdF. We didn't, and we finished 3rd. Italy were let off the hook, and we will be punished!