IRELAND'S MAN OF THE MATCH against France Chiedozie Ogbene believes that Ireland were unlucky not to come away with something from their 1-0 defeat in the Aviva Stadium last night.
Stephen Kenny's side battled hard against the French and limited their opponents to few chances in the first half.
Ireland continued to frustrate Didier Deschamps side in the second half, but after a loose pass from Ireland's Josh Cullen Benjamin Pavard scored from 20-yards in Dublin.
The Boys in Green heads did not drop, and they continued to search for an equaliser throughout the game.
Efforts from James McClean, Alan Browne, and a wonder save from Nathan Collins header late on meant that France left the Aviva with all three points in the Euro 2024 qualifier.
Ogbene, who was excellent on the night, admitted that Ireland gave it their all on the night and that they could have got more from the tie.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport he said: "We gave a good account of ourselves today."
Man of the Match Chiedozie Ogbene's reaction after his outstanding performance tonight 💚#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/WW8JEIigrr
— Kenny's Kids (@KennysKids) March 27, 2023
"We matched one of the best, if not the best team in the world. That is a credit to us and what we're trying to achieve here - the futures bright.
"The atmosphere says it all. A lot of positives to take from today. We had a lot of chances to take a point at least. I'm just devastated for the guys, we gave everything out there
"That comes from the application all week, we trained to win this game. We were just unfortunate not to get a result."
Kenny echoed the sentiments of the Man of the Match and also claimed that Ireland will be 'disappointed not come away with a point'.
“We didn’t concede any chances up to the goal and that was disappointing. The substitutes made an impact, and we finished strongly in the last 15 minutes. Our goalkeeper made an excellent save but the save from Nathan Collins was out of this world. One of those incredible saves. So disappointed not to get at least a point," said Kenny.
“France are an exceptional team but we were comfortable in possession at times. They were aggressively pressing us. We had a lot of good performances out there tonight., And in those last ten minutes, we’d quite a few."
Ireland's next game will be against Gibraltar on June 19
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