Collins issues apology as Ireland thrashed by England | OneFootball

Nathan Collins has apologised for his side’s second-half performance after the Republic of Ireland were thrashed 5-0 by England.

Ireland had frustrated the hosts during a goalless opening half but capitulated after the break. The game swung when Liam Scales was sent off eight minutes after the interval, with the defender receiving a second yellow card for bringing down Jude Bellingham inside the penalty area.

Harry Kane dispatched the penalty to open the floodgates for England, who struck three times in just five minutes through Kane, Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher to take control of the contest. Jarrod Bowen and Taylor Harwood-Bellis added goals off the bench to complete the rout.

“First of all, it’s probably an apology from all the lads for that second half. That’s nowhere near the standard we should be,” Collins said to RTE.

“Obviously circumstances changed things but we know as a group we’re a lot better than, that’s not on and we need to do a lot better than that.”

Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson admitted his side ‘lost their heads’ after Scales was sent off.

“First half was like we wanted it but it’s easy to say we had a good first half but when you lose 5-0 there’s nothing you can say.

Asked if the red card denied Ireland the chance to earn a result, he added: “We’ll never know that. It was six, eight minutes of madness, ending up with conceding a penalty. Losing the ball is one thing, not reacting is another and conceding a penalty, losing a player, it was a lot of shock. 1-0 and then in your face you get a second and I just felt we lost our heads at that moment. After that, there was no way back.

“We kind of just gave up. Easy to stand outside and criticise the players but it was a crazy moment that killed everything, not only the gameplan but the momentum and fight seemed to be taken away from them.

“There is hardly anything I can say now. You try to pick the positives and the positive was the first half.”

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