It was another frustrating night at the Aviva as Ireland failed to create any clear cut chances in a drab 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland.
Their Northern rivals will feel aggrieved not to have won the match, with Darren Randolph coming to Ireland's rescue twice in the match with two great one-on-one stops.
It was a similar script for Martin O'Neill's troops, who continually failed to string any meaningful attack together, with their only threat coming from set pieces.
After the game captain Seamus Coleman admitted that the team needs to do better and show for the ball more than they did against Northern Ireland:
We're all disappointed. We can do all the talking we want in there, we can do all the talking we want before the game.
The only place we can be better is out on the pitch. Tonight we weren't good enough, we weren't good enough on the ball, we weren't good enough making angles for each other and creating chances. That's the honest truth, our keeper was man of the match and that says it all.
If you watch us in training or before the game we're getting the ball down, we're trying to make things happen. But when we go out on the pitch we need to help each other a little bit more, help the man with the ball.
We need to analyse our game, ask ourselves look in the mirror and say 'did you make an angle for your mate who was on the ball?' and I think if we're honest we didn't do that.
When asked about Martin O'Neill's part in Ireland's recent malaise, the Killybegs native was quick to deflect the blame onto the players, stating that "I think as players sometimes we get away with it."
In the Sky Sports studio Jonathan Walters echoed Coleman's sentiments, and pointed out that at home, some players need to be braver and show for the ball more:
Who wants it on the pitch, when we got the ball, who wants it? Apart from going long, who wants it? A lot of the time especially at home players tend to not show the angles and not do the hard things when you're on the ball, because we do do it in training.
Beside him in studio, Neil Lennon cited Ireland's midfield of Hourihane, Brady and Hendrick as a talented trio, but mentioned that perhaps some of them were 'hiding' against Northern Ireland.
