Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman offered few excuses after Ireland suffered a 4-1 mauling in their opening UEFA Nations League game against Wales.
Wales had not beaten Ireland for 26 years, never in a competitive fixture and had scored only twice in their last seven meetings, but they demolished Ireland during a spectacular opening 45 minutes in which Tom Lawrence and Aaron Ramsey scored either side of a classic Gareth Bale effort.
Connor Roberts made it 4-0 soon after the break and Ireland's consolation goal, neatly scored by Shaun Williams, came when the game was long over as a contest.
It was a worrying performance from Ireland who were outclassed throughout, against a side that they had taken four points from in their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, the skipper admitted that Ireland weren’t good enough and paid the price against a young and hungry Welsh side, looking to impress new manager Ryan Giggs.
"Not a great night at all, I thought we were second best throughout," he said. "We gave away a few sloppy goals in terms of they went back to front very quickly and they punished us.
"All around I think they were better than us tonight. The disappointing bit for me was on the ball we weren’t good enough and as individuals on the night, on the pitch, we weren’t brave enough to get on the ball and demand it."
Gareth Bale was the main dangerman for Wales and the Real Madrid player pulled the strings, linking the Welsh attack and midfield, but while Coleman admitted that he made a difference, he insisted that Ireland should have been able to cope with him.
When it was put to him that Wales have a truly world class player in Bale, he replied: "They do yeah but they had a world class player in Gareth Bale in Dublin that night and we were a lot better. We can’t use that as excuse, he’s a great player but we needed to be better in possession.
"For me the biggest biggest disappointment was when we had the ball we weren’t good enough, we didn’t get each other enough options and be brave enough and try to get on it."
Coleman also refused to blame Ireland’s inury problems for their display.
James McCarthy, Alan Browne, James McClean Robbie Brady, Shane Long, Sean Maguire and Scott Hogan were all ruled out through injury but the Irish skipper refused to hide behind that fact.
"We are missing a lot of players and any team would miss the players that were missing but you don’t want to use that as an excuse.
"We all are very proud to put on the green shirt so when we do we need to make sure we’re good enough and I don’t think we are tonight."
