O'Shea frustrated by nature of defeat in Portugal

John O'Shea had no complaints about the result in Portugal, however, the Ireland interim manager was frustrated by the manner in which his side conceded goals to their opponents in Aveiro.

A Cristiano Ronaldo brace and an earlier strike from Joao Felix saw the home side ease to a comprehensive 3-0 victory ahead of their Euro 2024 campaign, and it could have been more had the relentless Portuguese outfit converted their chances throughout the one-sided game.

It was a chastening night for the understrength Ireland team, who were missing several key players for the end-of-season encounter, while also struggling with fatigue having played little football over the past month.

Portugal, on the other hand, are in full tournament mode and they showed why they are currently ranked sixth in the world and rightly reckoned to be one of the favourites for the European Championships.

Ireland conceded from a set-piece in the 18th minute but remained in the fixture at the break, trailing by a solitary goal, and even showed moments of invention during the first half, which led to a few sights of the Portuguese goal.

But the tie was effectively finished five minutes after the break when Ronaldo sent an unstoppable shot past Caoimhin Kelleher. He added a third ten minutes later to ensure that there was no way back for Ireland.

The interim manager had appeared to be making real progress with the team since March as Ireland competed with Belgium, Switzerland and Hungary, who are all highly ranked.

However, his side were exposed by the real quality of the Portugal play throughout this encounter as Roberto Martinez’s side regularly played through the Irish lines causing real issues for the visitors.

"When you give a team with the quality of Portugal