Giovanni Trapattoni: Ireland fringe players took their chance

Giovanni Trapattoni: Encouraged by fringe players' performances

Giovanni Trapattoni insisted Republic of Ireland are on an upward curve despite a second straight home defeat.

A month after suffering a 6-1 thrashing by Germany, Trapattoni's side - experimental by his standards - went down 1-0 to Greece in Dublin.

The result failed to dent the manager's enthusiasm, though, after the likes of James McClean, Seamus Coleman and Shane Long started the game.

He said: "The result gives us great disappointment, but the performance gives us possibilities.

"It gave us confirmation of what we were looking for. Coleman, James McCarthy, Long and also McClean, they confirmed against a great team - because Greece are a great team - their quality and their personality, and that was important.

"In the first 20 minutes, we played very, very great football. We conceded the goal and even then, we still had more possession.

"Football is about results, but we had some good situations and three or four of the players showed their personality in this difficult game. It was very important to have a good performance after the disappointment against Germany. You can see a progression."

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