Dunne down about Ireland slump

Dunne and his teammates arrived in Poland believing they had a genuine chance of at least reaching the quarter-finals, but successive defeats by Croatia and Spain has rendered the side's final Group C fixture against Italy largely irrelevant, for them at least.

The 32-year-old Aston Villa defender offered a frank assessment of Ireland's performances to date, which has seen it lose 3-1 to Croatia and 4-0 to Spain.

He said: "It's heartbreaking. It's your dream to go and play in the championships and play well and be brilliant, and it's just not happened for us, so it's heartbreaking."

"As much as we wanted to do well, we know we haven't. We are playing against teams that are better than us and it's hard to accept that our best at the moment isn't good enough."

Manager Giovanni Trapattoni has known for the four years he has been in charge that the Republic lacks the superstars some of its opponents can boast, but has always been confident that the fighting spirit, pride and organisation of his players would bridge the gap.

However, a 14-game unbeaten run came to a sorry end against Croatia, and the mauling the side received at the hands of Spain simply exposed the wounds once again.

Worryingly, it conceded in the opening few minutes of each half in both games as the resilience on which it has based its recent run deserted it just when it was needed most.

Dunne said: "It might have been a different tournament if we got through the first 10 minutes in both games."

"That's the one regret - if we could have got through them, we might have seen a different game, we might have grown a little bit. We have just not had the chance."

"We did everything we possibly could. You have to hold your hands up. Our normal game is pressure, pressure, pressure and...the teams are too good."

Trapattoni's side could be forgiven for wishing it could head straight back to Dublin and avoid what could be another tough 90 minutes if it does not rediscover its form quickly.

Italy must win and hopes the Spain and Croatia result goes in its favour if it is to avoid an early trip home, and that will make for another intense affair.

However, Dunne said: "We don't want to go home because we don't want to go home feeling like we are."

"If we win on Monday night, it restores a bit of pride, not just in Irish football, but in ourselves."

"There's more hurt than anyone can imagine, so for ourselves, we need to win a game."

"We need to make sure we can get through the first 10 minutes without conceding a goal."

"It's another game, we're representing our country so, regardless of how we feel inside, we have to go and give 100 per cent and make sure we turn the hurt into passion and win the game."

Ireland's form in Poland has attracted strong criticism at home from former skipper Roy Keane in particular, and led to speculation that some of the senior players, Dunne among them, could announce their retirement in the wake of the side's last match.

But he said: "We came here with a dream and an aim of winning the European championships, and it's completely gone wrong for us."

"It's not a time when we are thinking about retiring. We have lost two games in a row and we don't want to lose three, so the focus is on the match."

"Monday night is all we worry about."