Seamus Coleman leads by example against the Italians.
Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill has said he couldn’t be happier with how Seamus Coleman stepped up to the plate.
The Derry legend has revealed how the Killybegs man impressed him when he was give the captain’s armband before the game against Italy.
And he hinted that Coleman could maintain the leader’s armband for some time yet.
“He’s an impressive, young man,” said O’Neill. “He’s a very quiet, young man, but he’s shown a great intensity in this competition. He’s ready for it.
“He embraced the captaincy, took it in his stride. I thought he was a captain in everything he did.
“A couple of players mentioned that he was inspirational in his little speech to the players, which was great.”
O’Neill also emphasised the importance of securing the win after producing such a round performance.
He added: “We needed to seal that performance last night with a win because I don’t think we wanted to go home feeling, it was a great performance, but should have had a penalty but didn’t, Wes should have scored but didn’t, and do you know what? In two days’ time, it’s forgotten (if Ireland hadn’t won).
“We’ve come up big at the end of the game and deservedly so, but for that to mean that we have qualified and gone through, it was just immense in that sense, so at least we will take great pride in that.”
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