Mick McCarthy’s predecessor Jack Charlton has described the Republic of Ireland's penalty shootout with Spain as "dreadful".
Charlton, who led Ireland to the quarter-finals in 1990 and the last 16 in 1994, said in his column for the Daily Mirrorhe didn't feel for the players who missed.
"The penalties were just dreadful. I don't feel for the players who missed them at all," he said of the shootout after the scores were tied at 1-1 following extra time.
"They are professional players and that is their job."
Ireland failed to convert three out of five spot-kicks to go with a penalty miss by Ian Harte during the second half.
"It's bloody frustrating. Once we equalised, Ireland should definitely have won the game. There are no excuses," said Charlton, who won the World Cup as a player with England in 1966.
"Ireland gave the first goal away from a ridiculous throw-in. To be fair, they were fantastic and got right back into the game.
"But then we did the worst thing possible and missed a penalty."
Despite his gruff criticism Charlton conceded that overall the Irish had a good World Cup.
"For a small country like Ireland to get as far as they did in this World Cup is a real achievement," he said.
"The whole world knows Ireland are a team to be reckoned with and if it wasn't for the penalties you would always fancy Ireland to beat more teams and keep progressing."