McCarthy rues lack of a clinical edge as the Boys in Green go down fighting against Denmark

Andrew Dempsey reports from the Aviva Stadium

Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy admits that his side were not clinical enough in front of goal after the Boys in Green could only manage a draw at home to Denmark.

The result sees McCarthy’s side needing a playoff to progress to the European Championship’s – despite enjoying much of the dominance on Monday evening.

“Well, quite clearly, we weren’t (clinical enough),” the former Ipswich Town boss said. “We’ve scored seven goals in eight games. That’s clearly not clinical enough.

“We don’t get beaten in too many games – and if we get a bit of luck tonight who knows. Had we nicked it I thought we would’ve deserved it to be honest.”

The 60-year-old also praised his side’s mental character in his press conference.

“I’m here to talk about this performance, this game. If you’ve been at any of my press conferences, you’ll never see me say that.

“I’m not disappointed with the players, they’ve given me everything and more.

“Everyone has been asking me about the Denmark game when we lost 5-1. We’ve played them six times and we’ve only ever lost to them once. There was no bearing on it.”

And McCarthy concluded; “We’ll come back, we’ll play a different team and we’ll get back in and do our work. I think you (people) believe we’re shallow and not mentally tough.

“We’ve had bad performances and results all the time. But you’ve got to come back and play well. You’ve got to get back in it, simple as that and they’ve done it.

“I’ve got three months to prepare for that (playoff). We’ll see who we get, and we’ll plan for it as soon as we get it. If we play as well as that we’ll beat other teams.”