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24th March 2018
09:00pm GMT

"This is the football of yesterday or, in fact, the day before yesterday. We are not playing a particularly good side, the lads are doing their best, but there is no sign that Ireland will change. "It should be the beginning of a new era, but it is very, very hard to see Martin O'Neill changing the way he wants to play. I mean, he played James McClean in a left back position in Turkey. James McClean is not a left back. he is a very dangerous left winger.https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/962944642663833601 And then came the kicker. The all-time Dunphy punch-line. Yes, bringing it back to Wes.
"At least he has no Wes (Hoolahan) to get rid of now and that makes life easier for him."Hoolahan announced his retirement from international football in February. It's been about six weeks but Dunphy still can't accept how his favourite player was marginalised at times during an international career that yielded just 43 caps in nine years. The 35-year-old had been long seen as the creative spark in this Ireland side and, when he confirmed he was hanging up his boots, it did make one wonder where the inspiration and craft in midfield would come from next. Rice seems more than capable of being Hoolahan's successor as the primary string-puller but it remains to be seen if O'Neill sees him as someone who can influence the game in the final third or the next leader in defence.
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