Seamus Coleman has called on Republic of Ireland supporters to stick with their side and help them book their place in the France 2016 European Championships.
A 2-1 defeat to Poland in Warsaw ended Ireland’s hopes of automatic qualification for the tournament and they will now have to navigate a play-off in order to take their place at France 2016.
"We’ve got to be ready to go again and we all know that. We’re not out of this yet."
However Coleman insists that Ireland are still very much in the running and that a play-off spot still represents a decent finish for Martin O’Neill’s men given where they were earlier in the campaign.
“There was a period in the summer after we drew against Scotland when if someone had offered us a play-off were would have taken it,” he told RTÉ Sport.
However Coleman did admit that, following the high of Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Germany, losing to Poland has left the player deflated.
“After the performance the lads put in the other night and coming here with high confidence we are, as you can imagine, disappointed in there. We’ve seen the support the country have given us there and if they can give us that one more time next month, fingers crossed we can go to France.”
“The manager has let us know he’s disappointed but on the other side we’ve got to be ready to go again and we all know that. We’re not out of this yet,” the Everton full back added.
Ireland will learn their play-off fate next Sunday when the draw takes place but they do know that they’ll be without the services of the suspended John O’Shea and Jon Walters while Shane Long could be a doubt after being stretchered off in Poland.
Despite these setbacks, Coleman is confident that Ireland can cope, no matter who they are drawn against.
“It’s disappointing to lose so many players but that’s part and parcel of football,” he said.
“There were a few us on yellow cards tonight and you have to be careful but Jon’s probably been our best player this campaign so he’ll be missed.
“But we’ll go back to our clubs and we’ll stay in touch with the manager and we’ll all look forward to coming back.
“Our fans, as everyone knows, are brilliant and they’ll get right behind us again and we can get the same atmosphere we had against Germany.”
