Ireland Euro bid not over yet, insists Dunne

Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne insists his side still have every chance of qualifying for Euro 2008 despite their injury-time heartbreak against Slovakia on Saturday.

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The Republic would have headed into Wednesday's crucial Group D showdown against the Czech Republic in a much stronger position had they not twice squandered the lead in Bratislava.

Now they can settle for nothing less than three points against the Czechs - and they must win without influential midfielder Stephen Ireland, who has flown home following the death of his grandmother.

But Dunne is convinced his side can bounce back, insisting: 'Our aim was to get four points from these two matches against Slovakia and the Czech Republic and we still have that target in our sights.

'We're all disappointed but we feel in ourselves that we can go to the Czech Republic and get a victory. We've got to be positive and make sure everybody gets behind us for that game.

'Maybe we just didn't have the experience of winning games away from home. But it was a valuable lesson for us all. Hopefully that won't happen again and we move on to Wednesday's match.'

Effectively Ireland's destiny is still in their own hands. Victory in Prague will take them above the Czech Republic into second place in the group, courtesy of the new UEFA head-to-head rule.

But it remains to be seen how they will respond to both the mental and physical toil of their late disappointment. Kevin Doyle's 30-yard wonder-goal looked set to seal the points until Marek Cech popped up with the late equaliser.

Ireland boss Steve Staunton said: 'We will be disappointed with it but it is over with and we have to move on. We have got a big game on Wednesday night and we know what we have to do.

'I think we always had to win that game. We know we have to go and beat the Czechs. I know from the disappointment in the dressing room there is a real determination to put things right.'

Ireland flew back to be with his family on Sunday morning when the rest of the team travelled to Prague, having been informed of his grandmother's death shortly after the match on Saturday night.

Dunne and Doyle are expected to shake off knocks they sustained in Bratislava to make the starting line-up. It is still unclear whether Steve Finnan will be fit to join the squad after his battle with a knee injury.

Source: Soccernet.com