Ireland fans watched in disbelief as England waltzed through them in their opening Nations League match to win the game 2-0 and for both Goalscorers to be players that previously played for the Irish.
Jack Grealish and Declan Rice found the back of the net to stun the Aviva Stadium, and salt wasn’t so much sprinkled on the wounds as it was poured.
Writing in his Irish Daily Star column, former RTE pundit Eamon Dunphy was disappointed in Ireland’s performance, their current set-up, and pretty much everything to do with the squad.
However, on the particular issue of Rice and Grealish, Dunphy knew exactly who to blame.
“The granny rule is no salvation anymore. It used to give us Mark Lawrenson, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend. Now it gives us Will Smallbone, Callum O’Dowda and Kasey McAteer.
“It did give us Declan Rice, it has to be said, and his situation sums up how badly Irish football is run. There is now way that a footballer who played three senior internationals should be let go.
“Martin O’Neill was the manager who gave Rice his caps and let’s look at what he has said about the player’s decision to defect to England on Talksport last week.”
READ HERE: The English Media Were Less Than Positive About Ireland’s Display In England Loss
On Talksport, O’Neill was asked if he thought Rice and Grealish would get a poor reception at the Aviva Stadium, and the Derry native was pretty candid with his answer:
“Personally speaking, I couldn’t care less. Secondly, if I did care, then I would think to myself, that Rice has chosen to play for England, what a terrible decision that’s been! He’s been to a couple of Euro finals and the Republic of Ireland haven’t won a game,” said O’Neill.
Of course, the former ROI boss was being sarcastic with his ‘terrible decision’ remark, and in a previous interview on the same radio station, O’Neill seemed to wash his hands of the Rice situation.
“First of all, you can’t coerce players into becoming international players, he played in three friendly games at senior level, he was terrific in the games. It’s as simple as this: Declan Rice wanted to play for England,” he said..
“He’s born in England, it really is as simple as that, you cannot just bring them into an international game, a competitive game, where the minute they play a competitive match for the country that’s them announcing they’re going to be playing for them.
“That was never going to be the case, you can’t deceive people into playing these games, you cannot force them into that.”
After what happened against England last weekend, Dunphy was at tipping point, and as far as he can see, only man is to blame for seeing Rice in an England shirt.
“It’s hard to get my head around what O’Neill had to say. He was the IRELAND MANAGER. His job was to sell Ireland to Rice. Saying you can’t tie them to Ireland…really? That’s exactly what needed to be done.
“Rice destroyed Ireland on Saturday. That’s on O’Neill and the FAI, in my opinion.”
A defeat against England in any competition is a hard pill to swallow, but to see two players who once represented the country score against Ireland, was a tough pill for fans to swallow.
Hopefully Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men will put on a better performance against Greece tonight.