James McClean hit back at Ireland’s critics after scoring a double in last night’s 3-1 win away to Moldova.
The win keeps Ireland in joint top place with Serbia in Group D after opening up with a 3-3 draw away to Serbia.
In-between Ireland those away trips laboured to a 1-0 home win over Georgia that drew plenty of criticism but after the Georgians drew 1-1 away to Wales last week’s win at the Aviva can be viewed in a new light.
McClean has played his way into the starting XI over the last six months and had a message to deliver after his double had secured full points against Moldova.
“We got a lot of flak after the Serbia game and a lot of flak after the Georgia game,” the Derryman said. “The Irish press especially they need a realisation, we’re not going to blow things away.
“We’ve always been a team that works hard and when has a win never been enough? We’re happy that we won tonight and we’re happy to move onto seven points.
“Our fans are brilliant. They travel everywhere, home and away, but for some reason the media – it’s a no-win situation.”
O’Neill had a mild conflict with the RTE panel after the match but drew satisfaction from taking six points out of six from the double-header.
“We played excellently in the first half of the game,” the Irish boss stated. “We should have maybe been two or three in front. Then the goal knocked us back for a while but we came around in the second half.
“We defended strongly. We created some chances and won the game and it was a big win for us. It’s great to win away from home. I thought we played with a bit of panache.”
