Man-of-the-match Wes Hoolahan insists that there will be little time for celebrating Ireland’s stunning 1-0 Euro 2016 qualification victory over Germany as thoughts immediately turn to Sunday’s game with Poland.
Shane Long’s 70th-minute strike gave Ireland a famous victory over World Cup holders Germany and saw them guarantee a minimum of a play-off spot for Euro 2016.
Things were looking even better for Ireland but a last-minute equaliser for Poland against Scotland means that Martin O’Neill’s men must now beat Poland in Warsaw or claim a draw of 2-2 or better if they are to qualify automatically.
Hoolahan, who turned in a Trojan display against the Germans, told RTÉ Sport: "At least we have a play-off spot but we’ll be resting up tonight and we’ll go there Saturday and hopefully get the win that gets us second place.
"After Sunday it will probably sink in and we’ll see where we are."
The Norwich midfielder paid tribute to his team-mates who were forced to produce a backs-to-the-wall performance for large periods in order to frustrate the Germans.
"The boys were brilliant, immense tonight - Long came on and got a great goal," he said. "We knew it was going to be difficult today, we defended straight from the off.
"We knew we’d get chances on the break, luckily enough we did and Shane took it and what a goal it was.
"The boys in the middle were super stopping them from breaking. The likes of Ozil are World Cup champions and to beat them here 1-0 is a great night."
Ireland's captain on the night John O'Shea added: "We wanted to get it back in our hands and now we've stepped up again tonight and showed we can go on to get automatic qualification.
"(Poland have) got some good players but we've shown tonight we can mix it with the best."
