Republic of Ireland manager was quick to praise his squad after they crashed out of the World Cup after a dramatic penalty shoot-out with Spain.
He said: "I am very proud of my players. We didn't deserve to lose, we deserved to win in normal time. It's sickening.
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Manager Mick McCarthy comforts Niall Quinn after Ireland crashed out of the World Cup finals
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"They are a wonderful bunch of people, these players. I am sure thrilled to have had the chance to work for them.
"You saw us all together [before the penalties]. I told them whatever happened there would be no recriminations. We have a had a wonderful World Cup.I have nothing but admiration for those players."
Former Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton was devastated with their exit from the competition and insists they did not deserve to bow out.
Charlton said: "I am very disappointed with the result because they didn't deserve to go out of the competition.
"We're out now, but they didn't deserve to be out. They deserve to be in the next round because they put everything into it and only just lost out."
Meanwhile former Republic of Ireland striker Tony Cascarino told BBC Radio 5 Live: "We had them on the run and tonight we've missed four out of seven penalties.
"If you do that you're not going to progress. It's a real shame because we'd have been in the quarter-finals."
PA & AFP