Ward Finds Positives in International Break

Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Ward was in an enthusiastic mood when speaking to reporters following the 2-2 draw with Slovakia, in Dublin on Tuesday night. The Burnley left-back feels the Irish squad can take a lot of positives from the week as a whole with Euro 2016 coming quickly on the horizon. 

‘‘I thought as a team we performed really well tonight and this week has gone really well and hopefully it goes well in the summer,” Ward opened.

“It’s been a really nice distraction, everyone has different agendas at their clubs, whether it be battling for promotion or fighting to stay in the Premier League or just fighting to finish the season well, so it’s really good to come in here.

“We haven’t been together since November which is a long time in football, so it’s great to see the lads, it has been a great weeks training, a great camp and we got two decent results which is always a plus.

‘‘We’ve shown that we can play a couple of different formations. The manager changed it around a little bit tonight as we had extra men in the middle and I thought we kept the ball well which was really pleasing.

“There are a lot of positives to take but it’s still a long way to go until France and there are still a lot of things that will need to be ironed out but overall it was a positive week.

“It’s nice to get the results and go into the camp and go unbeaten but I think performance wise we can be happy with ourselves,” the defender furthered.

Ward has been in impressive form for Championship side Burnley this season as they chase an immediate return to the Premier League and he feels that the number of games he has under his belt has stood to him in terms of his level of fitness.

"‘I feel a lot fresher and a lot fitter. I feel that playing at club level has really helped me in terms of my fitness and I’m also a lot healthier,” Ward explained.

“It’s great to be coming off the back of games with your club coming into games like this and it has helped tonight go well and hopefully it can go well in the summer.

“It’s an exciting time but obviously we have to head back to our clubs and that’s where our main focus will be but we’ll have one eye on it,” the Burnley full-back finished up.