Ireland striker Shane Long insists he and his teammates will not be adversely affected by tiredness in their last-16 clash with France, despite the gruelling nature of their victory over Italy.
In the humid conditions of Lille, Ireland produced one of the shocks of the tournament so far by beating the Azzurri 1-0 and securing their place in the knockout stages of a European Championship for the first time.
Martin O’Neill’s side have had just four days to recover for the showdown with the hosts, who have had an entire week to recuperate since their final group game against Switzerland.
But Long is confident that Ireland will not be left wanting, physically at least, against France.
“It won’t be a problem,” Long told Sport360. “I played in the Championship for a few years – Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday – I’m well used to it, as are a lot of the lads.
“We went out there and left it all on the pitch against Italy and we’re ready to do the same against France. We were so happy with the performance – we had nothing left at the end and the best thing about it was that we deserved the win, we didn’t just sit back in and rob the result, we attacked.
What an unbelievable feeling! Lets make it count on Sunday! See you all in Lyon! #bestfansintheworld 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/Wmtv4IaiX6
— Shane Long (@ShaneLong7) June 23, 2016
“We know France are a very good side. They’ve got a lot of world class individuals but they play together as one. Obviously it’s not going to be easy but we’re looking forward to it – we’ll have to leave everything on the pitch again and I’m sure we can cause an upset.”
Long was keen to pay tribute to the Irish fans, a sentiment echoed by Stephen Ward, who played at Euro 2012 as Ireland exited at the group stage.
Ward insisted the players owe a debt of gratitude to the supporters.
“The fans were just unbelievable,” Ward said to Sport360. “We had been speaking about all week is giving a performance for the fans because we let ourselves down against Belgium. They come out here in their droves and you look at the press they are getting, they’re loved by everyone. We wanted to give them something to cheer about.”
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