Martin O’Neill upbeat after Mexico defeat

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill insists his side can take plenty of positives from their 3-1 defeat to Mexico on Thursday night.

O’Neill was without several of his first-team stars for the game in America and Juan Carlos Osorio’s men were quick to punish them at the MetLife Stadium.

Mexico found their groove early on and they scored two first-half goals through Jesus Corona and Raul Jiminez. Carlos Vela then scored just 10 minutes into the second-half but Stephen Gleeson did score a consolation effort.

While Mexico’s win was the perfect preparation for World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and the United States, Ireland will need to regroup ahead of their next friendly against Uruguay on Sunday.

They then have their won qualifier against Austria on June 11 but O’Neill was pleased with this team’s display.

He told reporters: “First of all, I was delighted with the game. Secondly, quite a number of players have not played football for quite a considerable amount of time.

“In terms of our preparation for the main game against Austria, I thought it was excellent. Mexico were very good, they were good on the ball as befits a side like that.

“I thought it was a great work-out, a great exercise for us. Mexico played much better than us, they deserved to win the game. As far as I’m concerned, it was great. I was delighted to take on, I thought it was great preparation.”

Ireland are priced at 2.50 to beat Austria, with the draw 3.10, while the visitors can also be backed at odds of 3.10.

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