By just about any measure, Ireland came up short against Belgium on Saturday and the players made little secret of it as they left to catch a flight back to Paris.

"I think in the end you've got to hold your hands up and say, 'Yeah, they were a better team,'" observed Stephen Ward, who probably summed the whole situation up best.

“But we’re disappointed with the goals we’ve given away, making it a little bit easier than it should have been for them. I felt at half-time we were right in the game, we had a few opportunities in the first-half but we probably just didn’t pick the right pass or let ourselves down. From there, it’s difficult . . .

“I think we’ve got good enough players to keep the ball in the team,” continued the 30-year-old, “we just couldn’t really get a foothold on it as much as we’d have liked, we needed to keep the ball a bit better to give ourselves a breather. And when you’re playing against a team like that, if you do give it away in dangerous positions . . . But, you know, it’s one of those days. We’re disappointed.”

Robbie Brady described Ireland's defending for the goals as "naive" but none of the players best placed to provide an insight into those critical passages of play were prepared to talk.

Defining moment

Those who were, predictably enough, pointed to the penalty appeal that immediately preceded Belgium's opening goal as a defining moment and then sought to look forward to Wednesday when Ireland might still save themselves with a win although they will clearly have to play better in Lille than they did in Bordeaux if they are still to be in any part of France next weekend.

Shane Long said he could not say "what I would like to" in relation to the penalty shout for fear he would get himself into a bit of disciplinary bother but the striker clearly felt that there had been not one but two high boots in his head's immediate vicinity as he sought to get on to the end of a Brady free kick three minutes in the second-half.

Big call

“I was in the box at the time,” said Ward, “and I felt it was a penalty. I said to the referee. Anywhere else on the pitch that’s a free kick; if it happens in the centre circle, we’re getting a free but it’s a big call, one that didn’t go our way and when they caught us on the break we still should have defended it well.”

Instead, Belgium grabbed a goal and Ireland were suddenly chasing the game.

"We had to push out in the hoping of getting an equaliser," said Darren Randolph, "then the game stretches and they punish you. When you go looking for the equaliser you need something to fall your way which it didn't."

Now, says Ward, the players just have to “dust ourselves down for Wednesday,” and a game that Randolph admits is do or die.

“It’s not the end of the world,” insisted the goalkeeper. “There’s still belief. We’ve worked for two years to get here so everyone is disappointed but over the last few years we’ve gone out and got results against the big teams and you’re looking at the last game of three and a win could mean you qualify so you’ve just got to treat it as a cup final.”