There’s probably no one in Ireland taking last night’s defeat to Denmark in the World Cup play-offs harder than James McClean.
The West Brom winger summed up the deflated mood of the nation in a heartbreaking post-match interview with RTÉ’s Tony O’Donoghue admitting that Ireland had “s**t” themselves in the 5-1 home defeat.
McClean’s hurt was clear to see, but to be fair Ireland wouldn’t have even been in the play-offs in the first place if it wasn’t for his winners in Chisinau, Vienna and Cardiff – so the Derry native gets a pass in our books for last night’s result.
“They were just better than us… I don’t know what to say… I am just devastated” – Fair play to James McClean for fronting #Irlden pic.twitter.com/j2dJlQbg8g
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 14, 2017
However, having been “lost for words” after the game, it would seem McClean has collected himself somewhat and this morning rounded on detractors of the Ireland team in a lengthy post on his Instagram account.
Using a picture of Shane Duffy giving him a consoling hug, McClean branded criticism of Ireland players and staff as “bang out of order” and added “trust me when we say this hurt us every bit as much” as it did the Irish public.
The 28-year-old closed by vowing that he and his teammates “bounce back” from last night’s disappointment. It’s a bit of a long one, but you can see his comments for yourself below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbg2flgAfKs/
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