Beaten, but unbowed. That was the message from Chiedozie Ogbene after Ireland's heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to France in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium on Monday night.Stephen Kenny's side went down to a spectacular Benjamin Pavard goal in the 50th minute against the world champions in a game that saw the home side trade blows with their much vaunted opponents for large portions of the night .Ogbene knows his is a results business, but the Rotherham United forward feels this was an Irish performance that should embolden the squad - and their fans - as they move into the teeth of the qualifying campaign."We gave a good account of ourselves today," Player of the Match Ogbene told RTÉ Sport after the game."We matched one of the best, if not the best team in the world.
That's a credit to us and what we're trying to achieve here - the future's bright."The atmosphere says it all. A lot of positives to take from today.
We had a lot of chances to take a point at least. I'm just devastated for the the guys, we gave everything out there"That comes from the application all week, we trained to win this game.
We were just unfortunate not to get a result."We know what kind of quality they possess. That's what we have to do, we have to make sacrifices, work hard.