Euro 2016: Republic of Ireland to use past glories to inspire them against Italy

Martin O'Neill's side need a win against Italy

Martin O'Neill has urged his team to be positive from the off against Italy (Getty)

Martin O’Neill knows that his Republic of Ireland team are up against it and down to their last roll of the dice. They need to beat Italy on Wednesday in Lille to stay in Euro 2016 and after their last performance, a dispiriting 3-0 defeat to Belgium in Bordeaux, they will need to radically improve to do that.

The odds are very much against the Republic staying in the competition, then, but that does not worry O’Neill. Because no one expected them to make it this far when, at the Aviva Stadium last October, they hosted Joachim Low’s world champion Germany side, needing an unlikely win to overtake Scotland into third place. But Shane Long scored the only goal and gave Ireland their best night of football since the peak Roy Keane years.

That is why O’Neill has obvious inspiration for his players, and does not need to talk to them about any famous old nights from the 1990s.

“We have our own memories to inspire us, none more so than the night in October when we beat the world champions,” O’Neill said at his press conference at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Tuesday. “We beat the world champions on a night we had to win and that is an extraordinary result. This is a team that just 18 months earlier had gone on to Brazil and won the World Cup.”

I've said that was inspirational enough for us to go and beat Bosnia in the two games, the playoff matches. We don't have to go back to 1994

&#13; <p>Martin O'Neill</p>&#13;

O’Neill said that those memories had been fuelling the players ever since, as they overcame a talented Bosnia side in their two-legged November play-off, and hoped that would continue on Wednesday to propel them past Italy and into the knock-out round of the competition.

“I've said that was inspirational enough for us to go and beat Bosnia in the two games, the playoff matches,” O’Neill said. “We don't have to go back to 1994. We can go back to the recent memories because it's that set of players that did it, and gave us the opportunity to come here. As much as we've enjoyed the days we've been here, we'd like to stay a bit longer and that inspiration will come from that evening against Germany and the night against Bosnia."

Ireland’s problem is that they did not win their first game, against Sweden, when they played well and dominated but could not score a crucial second goal. With three points on the board that early the pressure would have been taken off the Belgium and Italy games and Ireland would still be looking at a third-place qualification spot.

But that Ciaran Clark own goal at the Stade de France did real damage to the Irish hopes of qualification and now they must beat an Italian side that has in Antonio Conte probably the best manager in the tournament.

O’Neill remains confident, though, that his side can overturn top opposition as they did last autumn. “We are capable of beating big teams,” O’Neill said. “I do genuinely believe there's a big result left in us, in this group.”

That is why he wants his players to attack Italy from the start. “The most important thing is that we have to be really positive,” he said. “I thought we started tentatively against Belgium and we felt we gave the ball away too easily which was a disappointment coming on the back of such a really brilliant performance against Sweden. To start on the front foot rather than back foot and everything else will fall into place.”

O’Neill will make changes to the team that was badly beaten by Belgium, with John O’Shea likely to be dropped, and serious threats to James McCarthy and Stephen Ward too. He may even go to 4-4-2 with Shane Long and Daryl Murphy up front together.