INTERNATIONAL NEWS:WITH EURO 2012 less than six months away, Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne has called for a little more respect from the media and fans.

In The Cat Is In The Bag, a documentary to be screened on RTÉ2 at 8pm tonight, the Dubliner reveals his frustration at the negativity that surrounds the squad, despite qualification for a major tournament for the first time in 10 years.

“The outlook is ‘It’s the football team, they should be winning games’ and ‘if they are winning games they should be winning better than that’,” says Dunne. “The rugby team, cricket teams, regardless of what they do they are treated like heroes.

“After the cricket World Cup, a few of the lads went to watch a boxing match. People there cheered the rugby and cricket teams and booed the soccer team.

“It changes the public’s perception of us. Some people think we don’t try, or we are big time Charlies. It couldn’t be further from the truth. We are an honest bunch of players and we try our hardest before every game.”

The Aston Villa defender also advises journalists who “constantly” criticise the side, to “go do something else instead”.

For their part, the players are positive ahead of group games against world champions Spain, Italy and Croatia.

Stephen Hunt, in fact, was hoping to draw the Spaniards. “I wanted Spain,” says the winger. “You are going to a tournament and you want to play against the best so we’ll have no fear against them. We expect ourselves to get something from the group but others outside think we’ll get third or fourth. But we have no fear of Italy either because of our history against them – we played well against them in the friendly.

“The two games before that (the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign), we could and should have beaten them. Croatia are dark horses and will upset bigger teams next summer but we have to make sure we get a result in the opening game against them and go into the next two games with confidence.”

Both players, along with striker Kevin Doyle, take the opportunity to defend the style of play under Trapattoni, and reiterate their belief in the Italian’s system.

“It’s not to everyone’s taste but it has worked for us,” says Doyle. “We have a tough group at the Euros but the manager brings up (2004 winners) Greece a lot – so why can’t we do something similar? We have to believe.”