Ireland manager Martin O'Neill feels that his side's outing against England at Aviva Stadium today will benefit the squad from a physical perspective ahead of next Saturday's Euro 2016 clash against Scotland.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport post-match O'Neill revealed that he was happy with his team's performance and the physical benefits they will gain.
“There were aspects to the game I was very pleased with," said O'Neill. “The game will do us an enormous amount of good physically. I think we got tired towards the end, which was to be expected, with some of the players not having played for some time. But overall very pleased.
“We could have got a couple of goals in the first half and defended pretty stoutly when we had to.”
Ispwich attacker Daryl Murphy shot narrowly wide for Ireland just before the half-hour mark and was lively in general throughout; a performance that O'Neill was pleased with.
“It’s a pity really because he’s coming off a very good season with Ipswich," said O'Neill. "It’s just making that adjustment as well, he knows his surrounds very well at Ipswich. Here it’s just a wee bit more new to him.
“I was pleased with what he did today.”
Hull City's Robbie Brady played at left back at the Aviva and O'Neill praised the 23-year-old's contributions from the set-piece.
"Our set-pieces against Poland [in March's Euro 2016 match] weren’t particularly brilliant. But today Robbie was back to his best in terms of that," said O'Neill. "And defensively I thought he coped very well, with an exceptionally good player in Raheem Sterling.
“He got a little bit of help too with Aiden McGeady getting back, and between the two of them - who are attack-minded players - I thought they did fine."
Ireland had a 37.1% of possession in Dublin, and despite conceding so much of the ball to Roy Hodgson's England, O'Neill was happy with how his side used what possession they had, saying: “Just once or twice we might have given it away needlessly when we had a bit more time.
"But overall it was pleasing to be in possession, and one or two players growing into that confidence to be able to retain the ball, under more pressure perhaps then before.
Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter entered the fray for Ireland after 63 minutes to make his debut for the Boys in Green and almost made it a scoring debut with a shot from distance that whistled just wide. It was a promising debut from the 25-year-old and one that O'Neill predictably praised, most especially that shot that almost broke the deadlock.
“He made it himself. He closed down, dispossessed, took the ball forward, had a great shot and I don’t think it was that far away either," said O'Neill. "Certainly from where I was standing it maybe missed by a yard, maybe less.
“It’s very difficult to get to the pace of the game when you’re coming on halfway through it rather than just at half-time, but it was excellent from him.”
As for the team selection for the vital Euro 2016 clash with Scotland next Saturday, O'Neill revealed little, but did state that some players put their hands up for selection with their performances today.
“You want for people to pose you problems and for it not to just be a real simple equation about picking the team," said O'Neill. "And I thought one or two players responded today and I was pretty pleased."
