Richie Sadlier bemoans 'silly mistakes' as Ireland cough up easy goal in Athens defeat
Richie Sadlier was disappointed that Ireland ruined their second-half showing with the silly concession of a late goal.
by Oisin Doherty · Irish MirrorRichie Sadlier bemoaned Ireland's inability to cut out 'silly mistakes' as the Boys in Green fell to a 2-0 defeat to Greece on Sunday night in the Nations League.
Having been bombarded by Greek attacks in the first-half, Ireland began the second in the worst possible fashion by conceding yet another goal shortly after half-time.
Heimir Hallgrimsson's side showed excellent spirit to fight back and make a game of things in the second-half, and looked the more likely team to score coming down the stretch before a Caoimhin Kelleher error handed Petros Mantalos an open-goal to kill the game.
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Speaking after the match, Sadlier praised Ireland for showing 'doggedness and resolve' in the first-half and hailed the side for playing some good stuff in the second-period, but questioned why the side continues to make massive mistakes that lead to opposition goals.
"I'm thinking back to the Dublin game between these two teams a month ago, one of the most noticeable things was when Greece scored and they went one nil up, on the pitch - this might sound harsh - but almost they completely folded," said Sadlier.
"They had absolutely no way of getting into the game, showing no sign of coming back or mustering up any kind of response.
"And that wasn't the response tonight.
"So if you're looking at the progress of the team or the impact or the influence of the manager and the coaching staff, or you're looking to see what kind of personality is emerging from this team, there were loads of things tonight in that second half were you go 'we're onto something here.'
"There was loads of things that were really good.
"A huge amount of resilience, doggedness, concentration in the first half and in the second half they found composure on the ball and the ability to keep the ball.
"We didn't test the goalkeeper enough. The goalkeeper didn't have to make that many saves, which was a disappointment, but we said beforehand, cut out the silly stuff, cut out the mistakes, and then we concede a goal like that.
"That's not good enough. All the cliches that are talked about Irish teams, 'they're hard to beat, they're hard to score against,'
"We're not at the moment. We've gifted Greeks and the Finns goals."
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