A defiant performance, plucky even. It didn't always convince, prompting a little head-scratching at times, but there was no shortage of zeal. Steve Staunton's post-match press conference we're talking about here, although his display somewhat mirrored that of his team for during the 90 minutes.

What did the referee say to you? "I can't speak Spanish." Are you worried you might be banned from the touchline? "No." "He does not say wery much, no?," said the bemused local reporter.

At times, though, Staunton was very nearly talkative, when he praised the players and bemoaned what he viewed as a point denied by wickedly bad luck. "I was just delighted with the performance. The players showed that they care, they played with plenty of passion and heart and I thought we were very unfortunate not to come away with something."

What did you say to the Spanish official to be sent off? A narrowing of the eyes. "Nothing. I kicked a bottle. Out of frustration. I thought we should have had a penalty or a free-kick. I kick every ball, I head every ball, unfortunately I kicked a bottle of water.

"There were a few decisions, you can't do anything about it. Things happen. I mean, when you look at the goal, forget about refereeing decisions, the ball was going wide, it took a cruel deflection so, that's football."

He gives a more effusive version of the game when he turns up later in the mixed zone.

"They're third in the world and I think we frightened the lives out of them in the first half, they didn't know whether they were coming or going, so I give my lads utmost credit for how they went about their jobs."

When he's asked how he can improve things 'in terms of creating chances from open play' he's nonplussed. "You tell me about the first half. We had as many chances, if not more. We had the Germans pinned in their own half, and you saw throughout the World Cup how they pinned teams back - for 20 minutes they didn't know what hit them. I can't ask anything more than that. The Germans probably won't have a harder game here."

The biggie: do you think you've answered your critics? "We haven't had any critics, apart from one. Or maybe two. When you get beat 4-0 you accept criticism, it's part and parcel of it, but when you get criticism from other quarters about other things that's unacceptable. But the lads did the jersey proud, and for our supporters that's what it's all about."

Time for Tomas to spring in to action. He's the man who translates German into English for the visiting media and he does it with such enthusiasm he even translated the chuckles from the top table at Germany's pre-match press conference on Friday. While German coach Joachim Loew shares his thoughts on the game Tomas translates without pausing.

"It was my first competitive match in charge and I told them before the game, 'listen guys, this is almost going to be like the match against Poland'. Poland and Ireland play very similarly in style, and Ireland had their backs to the wall after losing to Holland by such a big margin. I told them they would be very physical and would offer resistance, it would take us time to crack that nut," says Tomas (or Joachim).

"In that first half hour we weren't really in the game, we withdrew too much from tackles, we were a bit too shy. The Irish team made it difficult for us, anything but easy, they were very robust, they had a very big physical presence and also played a very good long ball game, so we had to do a lot of running, we had to do a lot of building from the back, time and again. All told, I think the result is well deserved, we're just delighted. It was a difficult birth, but even that can become a beautiful child." Tomas giggles. "Beautiful child?" He liked that.

Back in the mixed zone Staunton is asked, in light of his comment that "you can't say anything these days in football" without getting in trouble with the officials, if he was going to have to change.

"Give you shorter answers?" he asks. No one has the heart to say: not possible Stan, just not possible. "Look . . . you've got to bite the bullet at times, but I find it very hard because I'm a passionate person - and I've got a passionate team and they showed that tonight." A testing competitive birth, then. The child showed spirit, we'll wait to see if it becomes a beauty.