“I haven’t seen all the video footage of them yet, but I have seen some of the goals from the campaign and they had some great results, so we can’t be taking them lightly, turning up and thinking it’s going to be an easy game or anything like that, because we know they have some very good players.”

“We have experienced the other side of things, being away for the second leg. Even when we qualified for the World Cup in ’02, we were in Iran and there were, I don’t know, 50 or 100 Irish fans there. If we could do it in Dublin on Tuesday night, it would be just probably the most special thing in my career to actually qualify in Dublin.

“If we could do that, then the country would be going a little bit crazy, I would think.”

Shay has never played in a European Championship before so would love to be there this time revealing:
“I have never played in one before. It would be very special. The last time we were in a championships, it was in Japan and (South) Korea, the other side of the world. Poland and aren’t so far away, and I’m sure if we do qualify then there will be thousands and thousands of Irish fans over there.”

“I have always said that Irish fans make tournaments with the atmosphere and colour that they bring to them. It would be very special for me personally to play in one of them.”

Source: Independent

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“We must get a good start out there. But we have a real belief in the squad that this is our time. We can’t fear it, we must believe, be confident that this is our time. It’s a real chance for us. I think our squad is pretty good. But we’re a small country. For the first leg, Kevin Doyle is suspended and Shane Long is injured. But we’ll have Robbie Keane, Simon Cox was man of the match last time and there’s Jonathan Walters, who is playing really well.”

“Four or five years ago, if Robbie was injured there’d be a void but we have a couple missing and still have strength. That’s a big plus.

“And we’ve been around together as a group for a few years now. We’ve matured and we feel it’s been too long since Ireland were there.

“I think qualification would have an impact on the country as a whole. There’s been a lot of doom and gloom with the way the economy had gone.

“This is our chance to give people a feel-good factor, not just in football but in life in general. If we could do that, I’d feel great about it.”

Source: Aston Villa FC Website

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Shay had three major saves to make and was particularly glad that the 90th minute block with his knee was enough to keep the vital point which ensures Ireland’s hopes of qualifying are kept alive.

Richard Dunne on Shay’s performance said “Shay’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world and you always know you can rely on him. When he was called upon, he came up with some great saves and as a team we should be really pleased with the way we played.”

Shay commented on his own performance “I just about got my knee down to block it. He was pretty close, but in situations like that it’s all about standing your ground and luckily enough I did that, as it was very close to going through my legs.

But it’s not all just about me. The whole back four were excellent and we defended very well.”

Paul McGrath (former Villa and Ireland hero) said of Richard Dunne’s performance “That was the best performance I have ever seen from any Irish centre-half – and that includes myself.”

So well done to Richard, Shay and the entire Irish team. You certainly did us proud.

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