The Republic of Ireland players were rightly in fantastic form last night, and they took that in front of the camera for interviews to produce some gems.
We saw Robbie Brady's man of the match interview, but James McClean's two minutes with Tony O'Donoghue is pure poetry. It's just gold. There's emotion, there's passion, there's that completely understandable several seconds of sheer disbelief. And there's two fantastic jokes.
James McClean: We did it for "this country, for those fans, for ourselves and our families." https://t.co/y1OKItPBiEhttps://t.co/8burLO1Fgm
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 22, 2016
McClean really didn't know what to say. It takes him a good ten seconds before he can form any thought, and manages to produce this:
We just thought, "Look, we'll leave it to the last few minutes, and then we'll score as we always do and build up the atmosphere"
McClean's genuine enthusiasm and loss for words at times, and then produces two cracking jokes - including that one liner about the penalty that wasn't given.
McClean wasn't the only Irish player on top form in front of the interviews. We saw Robbie Brady's beautiful moment, but the passion from Seamus Coleman was something else. It was very Roy Keane like, especially by immediately thinking about France on Sunday. But there were some shout outs to his Sligo Rovers days, and all the support he has been getting from back in Killybegs.
Jeff Hendrick "was crying his heart out" in the aftermath of the moment that was "two years coming" @corktodhttps://t.co/ofC9etkhBF
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 22, 2016
