Deflated Ireland boss Stephen Kenny admitted he had to accept criticism as Ireland's hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2024 went up in smoke in Athens.
The Republic's hopes of challenging for a top two group finish ended with a damaging defeat to Greece - courtesy of Giorgos Masouras' 48th strike that secured a 2-1 victory for Gus Poyet's side.
Kenny also saw Matt Doherty red carded moments before the final whistle, ruling him out of Monday's qualifier against Gibraltar at the Aviva Stadium and the September clash away to France.
READ MORE: Ireland midfielder Josh Cullen: 'We shot ourselves in the foot against Greece'
"Yeah, well criticism is part of it and I have to accept it tonight, I do have to accept that," said Kenny.
"We wanted it to be better than it was tonight, there's no doubt about that.
"At the same time we were still right in the game at the end and had chances to equalise, we never gave up, we kept going and going. But they had more control on the night than us, for sure.
"I don’t really want to respond to anyone else’s comments, people are entitled to their opinions.
"The players have shown in other games, with good performances. We’ve come out on the wrong side of tight games but that wasn’t the case here - Greece were better overall, other games were tight defeats.
"I don’t think that’s the case. We’re disappointed with tonight, there’s no doubt about that. Our defending was not good enough for either goal. That was disappointing,
"We could have drawn the game but it might have flattered us. I’m very disappointed with the sending off, it seemed very harsh.
"Matt got involved to get people out but he didn’t touch his face, he touched his chest, there was too much made of it with the player going down but there was no facial contact.
"It’s only the second game, we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb. At the moment we’ve just got to get ourselves ready for Monday, a home game, nearly a full stadium - we have to give them a victory and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.
"It can be argued that there was a lot of inexperience in the side and I’ve got to accept that."
Kenny reflected that Ireland needed to establish more control with the score at 1-1 at half-time, after Nathan Collins' 26th minute goal restored parity.
"But we got punished for the mistakes that we made," he said. "We’re disappointed to lose, I take responsibility for that as manager. That’s the reality.
"It was a game that we would have certainly wanted not to lose. That goal after half-time absolutely shifted the balance."
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