O’Neill demands more from Ireland

Republic of Ireland coach Martin O’Neill has urged his team to throw everything at Italy during their final Group E game as they try to qualify for the knockout stages.

O’Neill’s men got off to a solid start as they drew 1-1 with Sweden in their first group game, but they were then dealt a huge blow on Saturday.

After Belgium’s poor showing against Italy, many fancied Ireland to push them all the way but O’Neill’s side were comfortably beaten 3-0.

Romelu Lukaku grabbed two goals in the second half, either side of an Axel Witsel header, to give Marc Wilmots’ team a huge chance of qualification.

Ireland will need to beat the Azzurri on Wednesday in Lille to have a chance of qualification but Antonio Conte’s men are already through to the knockout stages.

Speaking ahead of that clash, O’Neill admitted his side cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves. He said: “There are two ways of looking at this. You can start feeling very sorry for yourself or you can take some confidence from the way you played three or four days ago (against Sweden) and take that into the game. “We felt we could do something in this game. It didn’t materialise but now we have to go and throw everything into the match to prevent Italy from scoring and try to win the game ourselves.”

Italy are the 2.40 favourites for the clash, with the draw priced at 3.10, while Ireland are available at odds of 3.00.