Ireland have discovered who they will face in the World Cup play-offs
ROY KEANE quickly rubbished Wayne Rooney’s claim that Ireland went “over the top” celebrating their win over Hungary.
The fans in the stands and players on the pitch went wild in Budapest after Troy Parrott‘s 90th minute hat-trick sealed the 3-2 win.
That result – which came days after a famous 2-0 win over Portugal in Dublin – booked their place in the World Cup play-offs, with a trip to play Czechia coming on March 26.
It, as well as Scotland‘s 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden Park that sealed their place at the World Cup proper, was discussed on the latest episode of Stick To Football.
Wayne Rooney caused a stir when he suggested Ireland “went a little bit over the top” in their wild celebrations on the final whistle.
The former Manchester United striker remarked: “I get it but I thought they had actually qualified.”
This was denied by former Ireland captain Roy Keane, who was part of squads at the 1994 and 2002 World Cups, although he was infamously sent home early from the latter.
He argued: “The only thing I would say about that, Wayne, is Ireland have been so bad the last few years.
“To get the win in Hungary, last kick of the game, a lot of work to be done still to qualify, obviously, but I wouldn’t begrudge them that moment.
“When these teams who have been struggling for so many years, to get a bit of a lift for the country and to get two back-to-back wins.
“To beat Portugal was huge, and then to go and beat Hungary and knock them out and you qualify for the play-offs.
“If you can’t enjoy them moments and I think the Irish fans and the players and the manager, I wouldn’t begrudge them, honestly.
“A lot of them are doing well in the game but they are not stars anywhere.
“A lot of them are making a living in the Premier League and a lot of them would have grown up watching Ireland maybe going back through the years and seeing little bit of success.
“It’s their moment. They have got to enjoy it.
“They have still got a big job to do it and they are not superstars, I suppose, at the moment, but they’re making a living.
“I was delighted for them.”
The Czechia contingent gave a mixed response to being drawn against the Republic of Ireland.
Slavia Prague star Lukas Provod paid their opponents a dubious compliment when he said: “Ireland is a very unpleasant and tenacious opponent, which we had the opportunity to see in their last qualifying match in Hungary.
“I believe that our great advantage will be the home environment, we will manage the match and thus get closer to our common and dream goal.”
Ladislav Krejci – a teammate of Matt Doherty’s – added: “We are pleased that we can play the play-off at home. It is a big advantage, but we can only address it after we beat Ireland.
“The draw is definitely not easy. We haven’t met teams from the islands that much lately, so we have to prepare even more for the Irish so that there are as few surprises as possible.
“I have an Irish teammate in the club, we talked about the match. It would be nice to run into each other.”
‘FIGHTING SPIRIT’
Slavia striker Tomas Chory told lidovky.cz: ”Personally, I wanted Albania, I did well against them, I scored two goals against them at home in the Nations League.
“All opponents are high-quality, the draw determined Ireland for us, I believe in our strength, fighting spirit and I hope we can win it at home.”
Czech legend and former Juventus star Pavel Nedved – general manager of the national team – was part of their delegation to the draw.
And he said: “We were nervous and we got Ireland, who are probably in the best form lately. They beat Portugal and advanced beautifully in Hungary.
“It’s always difficult in these matches, the important thing is that we play at home and we can prepare as well as possible.
“The main thing is that the players are healthy and in shape. In the play-offs, the head is always more important than the legs. I experienced it 20 years ago, it was a very difficult match mentally.”
If Ireland get past Czechia, they will face Denmark at home in the play-off final.
