Dara O'Shea has warned the Republic of Ireland they can have no excuses as they head into their World Cup qualifier in Armenia having banked a hard-fought first point of the campaign.
Saturday night’s 2-2 Group F draw with 10-man Hungary, in which Ireland came back from 2-0 down, meant they set off on the gruelling trip to Yerevan in relatively positive mood.
Hours earlier, group favourites Portugal had routed the Armenians 5-0 on their own pitch to set a standard to which Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men need to aspire if they are to make it to the finals.
O’Shea, an unused substitute when Ireland lost 1-0 to Armenia on their last visit to the Republican Stadium in June 2022, said: "It’s a different game with different challenges and the travel is a thing, but every team that goes there it’s the same challenge, so there are no excuses.
"They are going to have to come to us at some stage. Maybe the pitch isn’t going to be as good as our pitch, but these are all things that we have been used to. As a group, we’ve been together for quite a while now and these are the challenges we face when we go to these countries.
"But it’s a World Cup qualifier and you don’t need any motivation for that. It’s important that we have the same mindset that we had today and just learn from the mistakes we made and improve on the positives.
"We came in wanting six points and four is the maximum we can get now, so that has to be our aim. It’s going to be a big game for us as it’s a long way to go, but it’s a game we’re really looking forward to."
Ireland needed to mount a second-half fightback in Dublin to avoid defeat after goals from Barnabas Varga and Roland Sallai had put Hungary in the driving seat with just 15 minutes played.
Evan Ferguson reduced the deficit and, after Sallai had been sent off for a poor challenge on O’Shea, substitute Adam Idah levelled in stoppage time.
Hungary boss Marco Rossi was less than complimentary about the way the game was refereed by German, Harm Osmers, but the man on the end of Sallai’s 52nd-minute lunge had a different view.
The 26-year-old Ipswich defender said: "Well, you can look at my leg and that will tell all, to be fair.
"It’s one of those. I think the way he has gone in is harsh. I haven’t seen it back, but I’ve seen my leg, so I know what it is.
"It might change the game, but that’s us sticking to how we want to play and frustrating them, and him lashing out, which is why he gets sent off."
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