Soccer

Ireland will have to 'tighten up' to qualify - Martin O'Neill

Ireland manager Martin O'Neill on the sidelines during the draw with the Serbia in Belgrade on Monday night<br />Picture by AP&nbsp;
Ireland manager Martin O'Neill on the sidelines during the draw with the Serbia in Belgrade on Monday night
Picture by AP 
Ireland manager Martin O'Neill on the sidelines during the draw with the Serbia in Belgrade on Monday night
Picture by AP 

REPUBLIC of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill admitted they will have to “tighten up” in places - but was “absolutely delighted” to grab a precious point against Serbia to get their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign off to a solid start.

Dreamy thoughts of Euro 2016 were well and truly buried following Ireland’s battling 2-2 draw in rainy Belgrade on Monday night: “I was asked a couple of questions about taking things to another level,” said O’Neill.

“This is a new competition. This is not tournament football. This is qualification football. We should realise this and know these things.”

Newcastle’s new signing Daryl Murphy rescued a point for the Republic with an 80th minute equaliser after the visitors had fallen behind to two second half Serbian goals in a seven-minute spell. Jeff Hendrick celebrated his first goal in 27 international appearances to give the Republic an early lead in Belgrade but the Serbs pinned their visitors back for long stretches of the game.

However, O’Neill reckoned Monday’s night’s point could be as valuable as Ireland’s opening win against Georgia two years ago which set them on their way to Euro 2016 qualification: “This was a big point for us,” said the Ireland manager, “and we have to go and try and make use of it now in the upcoming games.”

Group D rivals Wales and Austria got their qualification accounts off to a winning start against Moldova and Georgia, respectively. The Republic have three more qualifying games before Christmas -  Georgia (home, Oct 6) Moldova (away, Oct 9) and Austria (away, Nov 12).

O’Neill added: “Austria, who didn’t perform to their ability [at Euro 2016], have won away from home. That’s a big result for them. And we’ve got off the mark, we’ve scored a great equalising goal.

“We created a number of chances in the game - and, in fairness, so did Serbia - so we’ve really got to sort of tighten up all around the place. But in those [heavy] conditions here, we’re off the mark. I’m delighted with the point. Absolutely delighted with it. Delighted in the circumstances. We got off to a great start but just because you score in two minutes, it’s a long, long time [to go].

“We scored early on in the match against France too. Again, similar to France in many aspects, we’re sitting there reasonably comfortable. It would be nice to go and try to get a second goal. We tried to push forward but Serbia, like France, started to push us back again, as you’d expect.

“But overall I’m delighted with the fact that we fought back. Delighted with the fact that we created chances as well. We scored two goals away from home on a quagmire of a pitch against what I would still consider very decent opposition.”

The Serbian supporters barracked their team as they trailed 1-0 at the break but the home side produced a much better performance in the second half as they bid to qualify for their first major tournament since the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

O’Neill fully expects Serbia to win more important games in Belgrade and push for qualification to the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia: “I think if the crowd decide to get behind the team and support them in droves - which I’ve seen before here - then I think it will be difficult for the other teams. And far from ruling Serbia out, they’ve got some players to come back too. Who knows who’s going to be fit?

“We’ve got our own things to be concerned about. But talking about fitness, I think some of the players who played for us will gain from that. And in a month’s time, if they are fit for international matches, having played some club games, I think that maybe could be of benefit to us.”

Seamus Coleman came through a testing 90 minutes in Belgrade - his first game since the start of the season - after struggling with an ankle injury. Coleman denied the Serbs a winner by making a last-ditch clearance off the line.

"Seamus was excellent considering he hasn't played and he was getting pretty tired towards the end as were a few of them,” O'Neill said.