MARTIN O’NEILL INSISTED that Ireland won’t lack for confidence when they open their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign against Georgia on Sunday.
Kevin Doyle and Alex Pearce scored a goal in either half as the Boys in Green beat Oman 2-0 in front of a small Aviva Stadium crowd.
It was only the second win in eight friendlies since the dream team of O’Neill and Roy Keane took charge last November.
But the manager believes those tough tests will serve as better preparation than morale-boosting wins over weaker sides.
O’Neill said: “If we want that from every friendly game, let’s play somebody where you think we can win. I’m not in for that.
We’ve won the game and we’ve taken a bit of confidence. There was never a lack of confidence, even in the games in the summer time.
“We’ve changed the side around so many times now just to see what players can do all with one thing in mind — to try and get as prepared as possible for Sunday.”
The official attendance in the Aviva Stadium last night was just over 14,000 but O’Neill had no issue with the small crowd.
“Absolutely not. In this day and age, I’m delighted that 14,000 people would turn up for a friendly game.
With respect to Oman, they’re maybe not the opposition that will get a crowd that you’d get for England or USA or Germany, whatever the case may be.
He added: “14,000 turned up for a game against Oman. I don’t know how many you were expecting but everyone of them who paid some money to get in there, you should applaud them.”
Now it’s all eyes on Tbilisi where Ireland will look to get off to a winning start in a group that also includes world champions Germany, Scotland, Poland and Gibraltar.
“It has been a long, long time — a really long period,” O’Neill said of the 10-month wait for his first competitive fixture.
“I remember sitting here in November here for the match against Latvia and maybe thinking this day would never come around.
“It’s here, it’s here upon us. We’ve got the whole campaign starting off on Sunday.
