Players' reaction:As John O'Shea used crutches to make his way towards the team bus and Stephen Hunt was ushered towards it by FAI security, Ireland's strikers stopped and drew somewhat different conclusions about the impact of last night's defeat.

While Robbie Keane insisted the team would continue to fight for a place at next year's European Championships until it was definitely beyond them, Kevin Doyle freely conceded that Marek Jankulovski's first-half goal had already ended the team's hopes of qualification.

Keane's line was understandable given the conventions of holding the captaincy, but his disappointment was clear after he emerged from a dressing-room where, he said, there was only devastation and despair.

"We did everything we could out there tonight and it wasn't enough. Obviously when you go a goal down, you're always going to be chasing the game but they're a good side and I thought we matched them for everything.

"You can take some consolation from the fact that we look to be on track for a better future with some of the younger players that have been brought through. That's encouraging but it's for another day.

"Never say never. People will say we're out but it's not mathematically the case and so we'll keep battling away.

"We'll look forward to the next games and look to win them, we know qualifying will be very hard now but we'll keep on trying until it's impossible."

Doyle was more accepting of the inevitability of elimination but he disputed the suggestion that the team's fate had, ultimately, been decided last October in Nicosia.

"Nah, we knew that we would still have chances after that and if we had won tonight then we were right back in it. Obviously for the first 15 minutes it was difficult but after that I thought we were okay."

The Irish certainly made a game of it and Doyle might have grabbed an equaliser shortly before the break. Instead, his shot came back off the post.

"It looked as if it was going in and then I thought it was going to drop for Paul McShane for a tap-in but when your luck's not in, it's not in.

"In the end," he continued, "everybody's very down because we knew it was our chance. We needed to win and we couldn't. All we can do now is take a little pride from it and try to play well in the last few games."

Doyle was critical of the Greek referee's handling of the game with the sending off of his Reading club mate, Stephen Hunt, only the most serious of the errors he believed the match official had committed.

"There was a little bit (of niggle) but maybe the ref made things worse with some decisions."