Ireland may have capped their first player from within the nation's own league for 40 years last week, but it doesn't seem like Martin O'Neill has quite found his new starting striker.
Graham Burke played twice for O'Neill's side, having came off the bench against France before starting and scoring against the USA, but O'Neill's post game press conference downplayed Graham's performance, something noted on OTB's Sunday Paper Review.
The Irish Independent's Dan McDonnell joined Joe Molloy and Gavan Reilly on the panel, and he noted the lack of optimism from O'Neill regarding Burke and his display.
"He was asked about Graham Burke which was a positive story and he was almost trying to deflate any sense of 'lets get carried away here'. That's drawn a bit of a negative reaction from some people"
"I think some of O'Neill's comments after the game were a little harsh as I don't think any problems that Burke had were because of his deficiencies, I think that it's just the way the game was played didn't necessarily suit him".
"He ended up playing in a front two with John Walters and they weren't really matched in some ways because Walters is trying to be strong and hold the ball up, nearly wanting someone to run off him and anticipate his flicks, that's not Burke's game".
McDonnell did reference the reaction from supporters to O'Neill's words, though claimed that the response and anticipation weren't as furious as the clamor for other LOI players in the past.
"I don't think there's been an amazing hype around Graham Burke and people saying he needs to be in the side. I don't really think that's been out there, maybe it would have been stronger about Daryl Horgan getting a competitive game in Austria in terms of a League of Ireland player at that point than it has been around Burke".
The panel drew a comparison to the glowing review O'Neill gave of Declan Rice, which may have annoyed Burke's fans, but McDonnell was quick to point out that just because the Irish manager had positive words to say about one player doesn't mean he's trying to create a negative narrative around Burke as some sections of the fan base have theorised.
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